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ASSOCIATE  OF  THE  ROYAL   SCHOOL   OF  MIXES;    EDITOR  OF  THE 
AXD  SCIENTIFIC  PRESS  AND  THE  MINING  MAGAZINE; 
FORMERLY  STATE  GEOLOGIST  OF  COLORADO. 


SAN  FRANCISCO 
Mining  and  Scientific  Press 

1909 


Copyright  1909 
BY  THE  MINING  AND  SCIENTIFIC  PRESS. 


Printed  by 

XKAI.  Prm. ISIIINC  COMPANY, 
San  Francisco. 


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PREFACE 

This  book  records  observations  made  in  the  course  of  a 
journey  through  the  Yukon  Territory  and  the  District  of 
Alaska  during  the  summer  of  1908.  In  my  efforts  to  gather 
accurate  information  I  was  aided  by  the  technical  and  pro- 
fessional men  whom  I  met  in  the  course  of  this  journey,  and 
to  them  I  tender  sincere  thanks.  To  Robert  A.  Kinzie,  0.  B. 
Perry,  and  C.  H.  Munro  special  acknowledgment  is  due.  The 
pleasures  and  tribulations  of  this  voyage  of  8250  miles,  in  the 
course  of  which  18  different  vessels  were  boarded  and  18  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  canned  vegetables  were  broached,  were  shared 
by  Scott  Turner,  to  whose  skill  as  a  photographer  and  good 
nature  as  a  companion  I  am  pleasantly  indebted.  To  Edward  De 
Groff  and  II.  W.  DuBois  I  owe  some  of  the  best  photographs 
appearing  in  the  book.  To  other  friends  I  am  grateful  for 
assistance  in  obtaining  accurate  information. 

T.  A.  RICKAUD. 
San  Francisco,  April  10.  1909. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter.  Page. 

I.         The  Inland  Sea 1 

II.         Discovery  and  Development 9 

III.  Juneau    15 

IV.  The  Treadwell  Mines  23 

V.         The  Men  in  the  Mines 37 

VI.         The  Glaciers  of  Alaska 47 

VII.         The  Silent  City 63 

VIII.         Sitka    77 

IX.         Historical    89 

X.         Alaska  and  California 105 

XI.         Chinook,  Natives,  and  Game 119 

XII.         Skagway    131 

XIII.  The  Stampede  to  Dawson 137 

XIV.  On  the  White  Pass  Railway 153 

XV.         White  Horse    160 

XVI.         On  the  Upper  Yukon 173 

XVII.         Dawson    183 

XVIII.         The  Gold  of  the  Klondike 189 

XIX.         The   Diggings    199 

XX.         Development  of  Mining  Methods 209 

XXI.         On   Bonanza   Creek 227 

XXII.         The  Yukon  Ditch 239 

XXIII.  From  Dawson  to  Fairbanks 249 

XXIV.  Fairbanks    263 

XXV.         Cleary  Creek   271 

XXVI.         Arctic  Agriculture   279 

XXVII.         On  the  Lower  Yukon 287 

XXVIII.         St.  Michael  and  Nome 299 

XXIX.         Nome  and  the  Eskimo 307 

XXX.         The  Dog  Race   321 

XXXI.         The  Three  Swedes 327 

XXXII.         The  Golden  Beaches  of  Nome 337 

XXXIII.  Anarchy  at  Nome 345 

XXXIV.  The  Ride  to  Ophir 363 

XXXV.  San  Francisco  .                                                         .   381 


vii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Prospector   Frontispiece 

Page. 

The  Midnight  Sun 3 

The  'Jefferson'  in  Queen  Charlotte  Sound 5 

Ketchikan    7 

On  the  Turn  of  the  Tide 11 

On  the  Mush 13 

Moonlight  on  Sumdum  Bay 17 

The  Sumdum  Chief  Mine 19 

Looking  Across  Gastineau  Channel,  From  Juneau  to  Treadwell.  ...  25 

The    Glory    Hole 27 

Working  in  the  Glory  Hole 27 

Underground  in  the  Alaska  Treadwell  Mine 29 

A  Big  Stope 31 

One  of  the  Stamp-Mills  at  Treadwell 33 

Alaska  Treadwell  Mine  in  Winter 35 

Alaska  Perseverance  Mill  in  Silver  Bow  Basin 39 

An  Indian  Camp  in  Southeastern  Alaska 41 

Treadwell,    Alaska    ». 49 

The  Taku  Glacier 51 

Another  View  of  the  Taku  Glacier 53 

The  Eagle  River  Glacier,  near  Juneau 55 

On  Taku  Inlet 57 

The  Face  of  the  Glacier 59 

In  a  Snow  Drift 6i 

An  Ice-Berg  in  Taku  Inlet 61 

In  Chatham  Strait 65 

The  Silent  City 67 

The  Professor  at  Work 69 

In  Sitka  Harbor 71 

Sitka,  with  Mt.  Edgcumbe  in  the  Background 73 

An   Alaskan   Trout   Stream 75 

The   Esplanade,   Sitka 79 

Totem-Poles  in  Indian  Park,  Sitka 81 

Totem-Pole  at   Sitka 83 

Interior  of  Russian  Church,  Sitka 84 

The  Lady  of  Kazaan 85 

A  Baidarka  and  Eskimo 87 

Indian  River  Park,  Sitka 91 

ix 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page. 

The  Baranoff  Castle,  Before  the  Fire 93 

Russian  Block-House  at  Sitka 95 

A  Snow-Storm  at  Sitka 97 

Indian  Women  Selling  Salmon-Berries,  at  Sitka 99 

The  Bay  of  Sitka 107 

Sun-Dogs  in  a  Winter  Sky 109 

Sitka  and  Mt.  Verstovia Ill 

In  Quiet  Waters 115 

Sitka  and  Mt.  Edgcumbe 117 

The  Musher 121 

Thlingit  Women    123 

Totems  of  the  Thlingit  Indians 125 

Moose   Swimming    126 

The  Moose  Hunter   127 

When  Wind  Helped  Muscle 128 

Mining  on  Chichagoff  Island 129 

Evening  Light  on  Lynn  Canal 133 

Evening    135 

Loring;    A  Fishing  Village 136 

On  the  White  Pass  Railroad 139 

Looking  Down  the  White  Pass 139 

Crossing  the  Chilkoot  Pass  During  the  Klondike  Rush 141 

White  Pass  City.    On  the  Trail  to  the  Klondike 142 

The  Rush  to  the  Klondike  in  the  Spring  of  1898 143 

The  Stampede.     On  the  Chilkoot  Pass 145 

The  Line  of  Stampeders 147 

On  the  Summit  of  the  Chilkoot  Pass 149 

Camp  of  Klondikers  on  Lake  Lindeman  in  May  1898 151 

On  the  White  Pass  Railroad 155 

On  the  Shore  of  Lake  Bennett 157 

Lake  Lewis  and  the  Yukon  Railway 159 

Remains  of  the  Klondike  Rush,  on  Lake  Bennett,  1908 160 

White  Horse,  Yukon  Territory 163 

Steamboats  on  the  Stocks  at  White  Horse 165 

Crossing  the  Yukon  in  Winter 167 

Old  Tramway  at  White  Horse 171 

Diagram  of  Navigation   174 

The  Barge  in  Front  of  Steamer  'White  Horse'.  Showing  Method  of 

Attachment    175 

Steamer  and  Barge  on  the  Way  to  Dawson 177 

The  Steamer  'White  Horse' 179 

Coming  up  the  Five  Finger  Rapids 181 

In  the  Environs  of  Dawson..  .    183 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page. 

Dawson  at  Midnight,  June  20,  1908 185 

The  Regina  Hotel,  Dawson 187 

Carmack's  Stakes 191 

Old  Gold  Creek 193 

Transport  of  Supplies 197 

In  the  Miners'  Boarding-House 201 

A  Meandering  Stream  in  Gold-Bearing  Alluvium 203 

On  Dome  Creek,  Yukon 205 

Drift-Mining  in  Frozen  Ground 211 

Steam-Points  in  Place  Underground 213 

Section  of  a  Drift  Mine 215 

A  Steam-Point   216 

Steam-Points  in  Action  Underground 217 

Dredge  No.  6  of  the  Yukon  Gold  Company 219 

Dredge  on  Bonanza  Creek 221 

Thawing  with  Steam-Points  Ahead  of  a  Dredge 225 

A  Home  in  the  North 226 

In  the  Early  Days.    Washing  the  Golden  Gravel 229 

Partners   231 

Flat  Creek,  A  Tributary  of  the  Klondike 233 

The  Prospector  and  His  Rocker 235 

On  the  Valdez  Trail  in  Winter 237 

The  Tombstone  River  at  the  Intake 241 

Finishing  the  Ditch 243 

Assembling  Stave-Pipe  on  the  Line  of  the  Yukon  Ditch 245 

Wooden  Stave  Pipe-Line 247 

Pipe  Crossing  the  Klondike 247 

Arriving  at  Eagle 251 

Camp  on  the  Innoko 253 

Steamer  'White  Horse'  on  the  Yukon 255 

Steamer  Receiving  Wood  on  the  Yukon 257 

Poling  on  the  Innoko 259 

Leaving  Camp 261 

The  First  Camp  at  Fairbanks;  in  1903 265 

Lower  Clearly  Creek  in  1907 273 

Cleary  Creek  in  Winter 275 

A  Clean-Up  on  Cleary  Creek 277 

Manley's  Hotel,  Hot  Springs 281 

Vegetables  Grown  at  Latitude  64°  51'  North 283 

Manley's  Hot  Springs 285 

Steamer  at  Fort  Gibbon 289 

Malamutes  in  Chorus 291 

xi 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page. 

Nulato  295 

Hauling  Freight  Over  the  Ice  of  Bering  Sea. 297 

St.  Michael    299 

Landing  Passengers  at  Nome 301 

Front  Street,  Nome 303 

Disabled  Dredge  on  Bourbon  Creek,  Nome 305 

Nome  307 

Eskimo  Woman  and  Child 309 

A  Relic  of  the  Boom  on  the  Beach  at  Nome 311 

An  Eskimo  Belle 313 

Eskimo  Girls 315 

Reindeer 317 

An  Eskimo  in  His  Kayak 317 

Eskimo  Children   319 

Polar  Bear  and  Hunter 319 

A  Dog  Team  on  the  March 323 

The  Team  that  Won  the  Race  at  Nome  in  April  1908 325 

Campbell  and  Samuelson  Arriving  at  Nome  from  Valdez  on  April 

3,  1908  329 

On  the  Beach  of  Nome  in  Winter 331 

A  Team  of  Huskies 333 

Unloading  Freight  from  the  'Corwin',  Off  Nome 335 

Workers  on  Nome  Beach,  1908 339 

On  the  Beach,  Nome,  1908 341 

Washing  Gold-Bearing  Sand 341 

Nome  in  1899 347 

A  Mine  on  the  Tundra,  Near  Nome 349 

In  a  Drift  Mine 351 

Nome  in  Winter 353 

Winter  Dumps  at  Little  Creek,  Near  Nome 355 

A  Malamute  Team 357 

An  Eskimo  Camp 359 

Walruses  Asleep  on  the  Ice 361 

Solomon  River,  Alaska,  Showing  the  Three  Friends  and  the  Nome- 
Montana  New  Mexico  Dredges  at  Work 365 

Council.     A  Pioneer  Settlement 369 

A  Typical  Landscape  on  the  Seward  Peninsula 373 

Bering  Sea 377 

After  the  Ride  to  Ophir.  September  190S 379 


xii 


LIST  OF  MAPS 

Page. 

Map  of  Alaska  1 

Map  Showing  Relative  Size  of  Alaska 9 

Juneau  and  Vicinity 21 

Southeastern  Alaska 101 

Part  of  the  Yukon  Territory,  Canada 152 

Alaska 158 

Sketch  Map  of  the  Klondike  Region 188 

The  Golden  Beaches  of  Nome 343 

The  Seward  Peninsula.  .                                                                                 .  367 


Through  the  Yukon  and  Alaska. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   INLAND   SEA. 

The  quiet  of  evening  lies  like  a  benediction  on  the  dreaming 
earth ;  the  air  is  still ;  the  ship  ploughs  her  way  to  the  sound  of 
many  waters.  Although  eight  bells  struck  an  hour  ago,  the 
twilight  is  luminous.  It  is  late  in  June ;  we  are  on  the  steamer 
Jefferson,  bound  from  Seattle  to  Juneau.  Our  vessel  is  moving 
swiftly  through  calm  waters  separating  the  islands  that  fringe 
the  coast  of  British  Columbia  and  southern  Alaska.  It  is  a 
fiord  1000  miles  long,  with  the  blended  beauty  of  Norway  and 
New  Zealand.  On  the  port  side  the  land  overshadows  the 
narrow  waterway  and  the  dark  eddies  are  fringed  with  silver ; 
in  the  distance  the  shores  of  an  island  are  surmounted  by  high 
mountains  flecked  with  snow  and  hooded  in  mist.  On  the  star- 
board side  the  silvery  waves  break  on  a  sandy  beach,  above 
which  the  forest  extends  inland  to  low  hills,  silhouetted  against 
a  gray  sky,  and  beyond  them  are  more  dark  mountains  outlined 
against  a  pallid  background  of  cloud.  Ahead  is  a  narrow  space 
of  water  between  two  mysterious  shores ;  we  seem  to  be  explor- 
ers plunging  forward  into  an  unknown  region ;  we  feel  as  if 
we  were  the  first  to  penetrate  this  mysterious  wonderland. 
That  impression  is  constantly  renewed.  Narrow  inlets  are 
framed  in  a  theatrical  perspective ;  between  ranges  of  hills  are 


2  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

films  of  blue  mist,  giving  the  scenic  effect  of  depth ;  the  prospect 
widens  continuously,  one  horizon  succeeds  another,  hills  upon 
hills  arise,  and  there  are  hills  upon  hills  behind. 


No  vestige  of  man  appears;  neither  his  work  nor  his  dwell- 
ings are  in  sight.  A  new  land  untouched  by  the  devastating 
hand  of  civilization ;  a  land  of  mystery  and  beauty  unsoiled  by 
the  wheels  of  industry !  We  pass  through  straits  where  the  tide 
races  furiously ;  we  advance  smoothly  along  echoing  reaches 
separating  verdant  islands  from  wooded  shores;  and  yet  for 
hours  we  see  no  trace  of  human  handiwork.  We  might  be  with 
Vancouver  feeling  his  way  amid  uncharted  seas ;  we  might  be 
with  an  expedition  sent  from  Sitka  by  Baranoff  in  search  of 
furs;  we  might  be  the  companions  of  a  Hudson's  Bay  trader 
poaching  on  the  preserves  of  the  Russian  fur  company.  Of 
later  British  energy  there  is  no  sign ;  of  the  latest  American 
exploitation  there  is  no  suggestion.  We  have  gone  back  at 
least  a  century  and  are  cruising  along  shores  never  trodden  by 
the  men  of  our  race ! 


Evidence  of  modern  industry  is  not  wholly  lacking,  as  is 
discovered  later.  A  saw-mill  or  a  pulp-mill  is  detected  on  the 
edge  of  a  bay,  and  behind  it  the  flash  of  a  waterfall  suggests  a 
source  of  power  for  machinery.  Salmon  canneries  remind  the 
traveler  that  the  fisheries  of  Alaska  are  gold  mines.  A  smelter, 
a  tramway  up  the  steep  hillside,  a  group  of  cabins  in  the  forest, 
a  white  scar  on  the  mountain — all  these  suggest  the  activities 
of  the  miner.  But  such  evidences  of  industry,  while  collec- 
tively important,  separately  are  insignificant  in  the  vastness 
of  the  region.  Pictorially,  they  play  a  part  only  at  rare 
intervals. 


The  shores  of  the  islands,  and  of  the  mainland,  are  thickly 
wooded.  Spruce  and  hemlock  prevail,  but  the  trees  are  small, 
and  unsuited  for  lumber.  In  an  acre  of  forest  only  three  or 
four  spruce  will  exceed  .">  feet  in  diameter.  The  hemlock,  when 


THE   MIDNIGHT   SUN. 


4  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

thick  enough,  is  used  in  the  mines.  At  an  altitude  of  500  to 
1000  feet  above  tide-water  yellow  cedar  succeeds  the  spruce, 
and  at  1000  to  5000  feet  only  scrub  pine  or  pinon  and  other  low 
brush  finds  a  foothold.  The  scars  made  by  landslips  and  snow- 
slides  are  healed  by  a  thick  growth  of  alder,  in  patches  of 
velvety  green.  The  soil  is  scant,  the  forest  growing  from  a 
tangle  of  decayed  vegetation  and  moss.  "When  the  large  trees 
are  cut  down,  this  moss  dries,  and  the  forest  is  killed.  Pros- 
pecting is  difficult,  for  the  explorer  has  almost  to  hew  his  way. 
The  perpetually  misty  climate  of  this  southeastern  portion  of 
Alaska  favors  a  growth  tropical  in  its  luxuriance.  During  the 
short  summer  of  four  or  five  months  the  vegetation  waxes  riot- 
ous. While  walking  from  Juneau  to  Silver  Bow  basin  during 
June  I  noted  that  the  roadside  was  already  thickly  fringed 
with  white  spirea,  red  columbine,  and  pink  huckleberry;  all 
the  shrubs  were  ready  to  burst  into  bud  while  still  under  their 
coverlet  of  snow,  flowering  before  the  leaves  were  out.  At 
Treadwell  the  violets  had  a  longer  stem  and  a  lovelier  color 
than  the  Neapolitan,  and  with  them  went  a  perfume  exquis- 
itely delicate. 


The  international  boundary  between  British  Columbia  and 
Alaska  runs  through  Cape  Chacon,  the  southern  extremity  of 
Prince  of  Wales  island,  and  thence  northeastward  up  the  nar- 
row fiord  called  the  Portland  Canal.  At  Cape  Chacon,  Juan 
Perez,  the  Spanish  navigator,  landed  in  1774;  finding  a  native 
with  a  Russian  gun  in  his  hands,  he  marked  the  line  of  54°  40' 
north  latitude  as  the  limit  of  Russian  rule  southward  and  of 
Spanish  dominion  northward.  This  proved  strangely  prophetic 
as  to  the  boundary,  but  an  ironical  fate  decreed  that  neither 
the  Russian  nor  the  Spaniard  should  long  enjoy  it  as  a  line  of 
international  contact. 

"Fifty-four  forty"  became  the  war7cry  of  a  belligerent 
party  led  by  Lewis  Cass  in  1843.  when  Great  Britain  and  the 
I'nitcd  States  were  quarreling  over  the  international  boundary. 
"Fifty-four  forty,  or  fight!"  was  the  motto  of  the  supporters 
of  Polk,  but  in  184fi  Buchanan  signed  the  Oregon  treaty  making 


THE  INLAND  SEA. 


the  forty-ninth  parallel  the  line  of  demarcation  between  Ameri- 
can and  British  territory  in  the  Northwest. 


The  Jefferson  is  216  feet  long  and  is  rated  at  1615  tons.  She 
flies  the  flag  of  the  Alaska  Steamship  Co.  Everything  aboard 
is  scrupulously  clean  and  the  food  is  good.  Nevertheless,  I 
venture  a  criticism :  dinner  is  served  at  5  p.m. ;  owing  to  the 
long  daylight  the  time  seems  like  mid-afternoon,  and  to  many 


THE   'JEFFERSON'  IN  QUEEN  CHARLOTTE   SOUND. 

of  the  passengers  the  custom  is  annoying.  Another  criticism 
can  be  made  upon  the  elaborate  character  of  the  men  u ;  it  is 
absurd  in  the  small  galley  of  a  ship  like  this  to  attempt  to 
give  a  dinner  that  if  properly  done  would  tax  the  resources 
of  a  large  kitchen.  The  consequence  is  number  without  variety, 
for  the  various  dishes  are  cooked  so  closely  together  as  to  lose 
their  distinctive  flavor.  There  may  be  persons  who  travel  on 
coastwise  vessels  to  enjoy  French  cooking,  and  there  may  be 
those  that  go  away  from  home  to  dine  better,  but  is  it  not 
unfair  to  make  the  average  traveler  suffer  for  the  sake  of  such 


(;  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

simpletons?  While  dwelling  on  these  minor  matters,  it  is 
worth  recording  that  on  none  of  the  dozen  steamboats  on 
which  I  traveled  in  this  journey  to  the  North  did  I  find  a  bath 
or  a  bath-room  available.  There  was  a  bath  on  one  boat,  but  it 
was  used  for  pickling  pigs'  feet;  there  was  a  bath-room  on 
another  steamer,  but  it  was  filled  with  stores.  If  cleanliness 
be  next  to  godliness,  you  do  not  travel  heavenward  when  you 
go  northward. 

The  dark  woods  are  turned  gray  by  dead  trees,  which  stand 
out  amid  the  green  like  the  gray  hairs  of  a  badger.  This  is 
due  to  the  decay  of  trees  that  have  reached  the  maximum 
growth  permitted  by  the  thin  soil  and  short  summer.  Most  of 
this  timber  is  only  fit  for  making  pulp  to  be  used  in  manufac- 
turing paper.  It  is  a  curious  example  of  national  lack  of  thrift 
that  the  lordly  forests  of  California  and  Oregon  should  be 
destroyed  for  making  paper-pulp  when  these  Alaskan  woods, 
useless  for  any  other  purpose,  are  so  readily  available.  The 
climate  being  excessively  humid,  no  harm  would  be  done  in 
this  case  by  the  destruction  of  the  forest,  viewed  as  a  preserver 
of  moisture.  Moreover,  the  soil  on  the  islands  being  non- 
productive, the  destruction  of  the  trees,  and  later  of  the  moss, 
would  facilitate  exploration  and  expedite  the  search  for  mineral 
wealth. 

Ketchikan  is  a  typical  Alaskan  port.  It  is  the  distributing 
point  for  the  miners  and  fishermen  on  the  islands  of  Revilla- 
gigedo  and  Prince  of  Wales.  The  town  is  on  stilts,  that  is,  it  is 
built  on  piles;  over  them  are  laid  the  weatherbeaten  gray 
boards  that  constitute  streets;  these  are  scrupulously  clean, 
for  no  horses  traverse  them.  AVe  happened  to  land  on  a  Sunday 
morning  and  as  we  strolled  along  the  quiet  avenues,  the  strains 
of  a  hymn  came  sweetly  from  a  Methodist  church.  Ketchikan 
wears  a  sober  look  ;  it  is  far  from  the  stamping  ground  of  the 
great  herd:  in  whatever  rampaging  its  own  inhabitants  might 
indulge,  such  exuberance  would  raise  no  dust,  for  a  mist  is  in 
the  air  and  water  is  underfoot. 


THE  INLAND  SEA.  7 

At  9  o'clock  on  June  21  we  are  threading  the  famous 
Wrangell  Narrows.  This  is  a  strait  19  miles  long,  tortuous, 
and  in  places  only  100  yards  wide.  It  was  long  considered 
navigable  only  by  vessels  of  the  lightest  draught,  until  Capt. 
J.  B.  Coghlan,  U.S.N.,  surveyed  and  buoyed  the  channel  in 
1884.  At  low  tide  there  is  a  bar  that  leaves  only  14  feet  of 
water,  but  as  the  tide  rises  10  feet  there  is  ample  clearance  at 
high  water.  The  Jefferson  drew  15  feet  when  we  left  Seattle ; 
her  commander  is  himself  the  pilot.  In  the  fading  daylight 


KETCHIKAN. 


our  course  is  steered  by  aid  of  white  monuments  of  concrete 
surmounted  with  white  crosses  on  shore,  while  in  the  water  the 
red  buoys  guide  the  navigator  in  finding  the  narrow  channel 
in  a  strait  that  is  so  serpentine  and  shallow  as  to  seem  more 
like  a  river  than  an  arm  of  the  sea.  On  one  small  island  we  see 
a  fence  enclosing  a  grave  that  marks  the  last  prospect  hole  of 
a  pioneer,  who  wTas  killed  by  the  Indians,  and  just  beyond  a 
half-sunken  barge  lies  wrecked  on  a  reef.  The  wild  duck 
examine  it  curiously.  On  several  trees  eagles  are  perched;  on 
others,  the  grouse ;  while  overhead  a  flock  of  geese  flies  athwart 


8  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

the  sky  in  characteristic  procession.  It  is  said  that  on  the 
islands  deer  abound;  but  on  the  mainland  they  are  scarce, 
because  the  timber  wolves  hunt  them. 


The  daylight  fades,  but  we  can  see  the  green  moss  along 
the  shore  and  the  russet  seaweed  floating  on  the  edge  of  the 
waterway.  A  bend  brings  to  view  a  deserted  saltery,  for  it  is 
too  early  for  the  fishing  season;  another  turn  in  the  channel 
and  a  small  settlement  emerges  from  the  forest.  The  blue 
smoke  curls  peacefully  in  token  of  rest  after  labor.  We  issue 
from  the  narrow  strait  into  a  mystic  lake.  The  succession  of 
pictures  is  so  rapid  that  nothing  can  be  entirely  unexpected 
and  the  attention  is  held  so  strongly  that  even  at  midnight  in 
this  luminous  atmosphere  the  senses  are  wakeful  and  sleep 
seems  but  waste  of  time. 


Entering  Lynn  Canal,  the  fiord  is  six  miles  wide.  On  a  gray 
day  the  scenery  is  grandly  desolate.  To  the  west  is  a  moun- 
tainous coast;  being  on  the  cold  side  of  the  range,  the  snow- 
fields  reach  to  a  broad  band  of  dark  forest,  which,  in  purple 
shadow,  mantles  the  foot  of  the  mountains  to  the  water's  edge. 
Torn  fragments  of  mist  fly  wildly  and  the  wind  blowing  off  the 
ice-fields  is  as  cold  as  man's  ingratitude.  On  the  eastern  side 
the  mountains  rise  abruptly  for  5000  feet  above  the  tide,  and 
the  timber-line  is  clearly  marked  at  1500  feet.  Above  this  level 
the  bare  rock,  in  brown  and  purple,  with  patches  of  green  moss, 
reaches  to  the  snow-fields.  In  every  ravine  a  cascade  comes 
tumbling  in  reckless  haste  and  on  the  crest  the  piled  mass  of 
neve  marks  the  foot  of  the  glacier.  One  of  these  perched  high 
on  the  rock-slope  seems  ready  to  fall  upon  the  ship.  The  sun- 
light breaking  through  the  clouds  irradiates  the  blue  cliffs  of 
ice  and  places  a  coronet  of  sapphire  upon  the  mountain's  brow. 
To  starboard,  to  port,  aft,  ahead,  wherever  the  eye  turns,  are 
snowy  mountains,  blue  ice-fields,  and  gray  skies.  We  are  enter- 
ing the  Northland. 


CHAPTER    II. 
DISCOVERY  AND   DEVELOPMENT. 

Alaska  is  a  great  land.    That  is  what  the  word  alaksa  origi- 
nally signified.     When  the  first  Russian  adventurers  reached 


116 l«r  117  118'  10»  106  101'  97" 


61'  77  7»* 


117*  ll»'  Wf  105'  iqi 


MAP  SHOWING  RELATIVE   SIZE  OF  ALASKA. 
(After  U.   S.  Geological  Survey.) 

the  Aleutian  islands  they  were  told  by  the  natives  that  east- 
ward lay  a  great  stretch  of  country,  which  they  called  al-ak-shak 
or  al-ay-ek-sa.  The  island  of  Unalaska  was  then  known  among 
the  natives  as  Na-gun-alayeksa,  or  "the  land  near  Alayeksa. " 
In  time  the  native  name  was  corrupted  to  Alaska ;  it  is  an  Eng- 


10  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

lish  version,  for  the  Russians  never  used  it.  Thus  the  name 
was  in  effect  a  prophecy,  the  true  significance  of  which  was 
not  understood  until  240  years  after  the  first  European  landed 
on  the  northern  coast  of  western  Alaska. 

The  relative  size  of  Alaska  is  shown  by  the  accompanying 
map.  This  illustrates  the  fact  that  the  east  and  west  points  of 
Alaska  are  as  far  apart  as  the  Atlantic  is  from  the  Pacific  in 
the  latitude  of  Los  Angeles,  while  the  northerly  and  southerly 
extremities  are  as  widely  separated  as  the  Mexican  and  Cana- 
dian boundaries  of  the  United  States.  It  is  often  said  that  San 
Francisco  is  east  of  the  centre  of  the  United  States.  This 
apparent  paradox  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  most  west- 
erly island  of  the  Aleutian  chain  is  farther  west  from  San 
Francisco  than  San  Francisco  is  from  New  York.  The  Seward 
Peninsula  at  Cape  Prince  of  Wales  is  only  60  miles  from  the 
Siberian  coast  of  Asia.  The  distance  by  sea  from  San  Fran- 
cisco to  Skagway  is  1696  miles;  from  Skagway  to  Nome,  by 
the  Yukon,  is  2274;  and  from  San  Francisco  to  Nome,  2731. 
Owing  to  the  fact  that  Alaska  is  usually  shown  on  maps  either 
by  itself  or  as  part  of  the  continent  of  North  America,  most 
persons  acquire  wrong  conceptions  of  its  size  and  position ;  the 
study  of  maps  is  a  remedy,  and  a  journey  to  Alaska  a  cure,  for 
any  such  misunderstanding. 

The  early  history  of  a  country  is  linked  to  its  topographic 
features.  Mountains  are  barriers,  rivers  are  avenues.  The  first 
foreigners  to  greet  the  natives  of  this  big  corner  of  the  Ameri- 
can continent  came  from  Asia,  for  the  Pacific  afforded  an 
approach  to  the  islands  that,  like  sentinels,  are  thrown  far  out 
to  sea  from  an  inhospitable  shore.  The  Russians  crossed  Siberia 
and  explored  the  Arctic  coast  of  Asia.  In  1728  a  band  of 
Cossacks  was  driven  by  a  storm  eastward,  landing  in  Norton 
Sound.  Others  came  across  from  Kamchatka  and  settled  on 
the  islands  and  peninsulas  of  southeastern  Alaska.  The  moun- 
tains guarding  the  coast  discouraged  exploration  into  the  inte- 
rior. Another  ran  go — the  extension  of  the  Rocky  Mountains — 
barred  the  westward  progress  of  the  French  voyageurs  and  the 
English  fur-traders  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  After  the 
Russians  had  obtained  a  foothold  among  the  Indians,  the  vice- 


12  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

roys  of  Mexico  sent  successive  expeditions  up  the  coast,  such 
as  that  of  Perez  in  1774.  If  the  English  fur-traders  had  not 
interfered,  the  Spanish  and  Russian  spheres  of  influence  would 
have  conflicted  and  a  contest  for  control  would  probably  have 
ended  in  the  establishment  of  the  Sacramento  river  as  the  line 
of  demarcation.  The  British  navigator  Captain  Cook  landed 
near  Sitka  in  1778,  while  seeking  a  way  by  water  to  Hudson's 
Bay.  Fifteen  years  later  his  midshipman,  Vancouver,  surveyed 
the  coast  carefully  and  completely  from  latitude  35  to  60° 
north.  Meanwhile  the  English  were  finding  a  way  overland 
from  Canada.  Mackenzie,  in  behalf  of  the  Northwestern  Fur 
Company,  ascended  the  Peace  river,  crossed  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, and  reached  Pacific  tide-water  in  Queen  Charlotte  sound, 
only  to  learn  that  Vancouver  had  preceded  him  by  a  short 
interval,  in  1793.  Thenceforward  the  known  portion  of  Alaska, 
from  Unalaska  along  the  fringe  of  islands  to  Sitka  and  thence 
to  British  Columbia,  was  the  battle-ground  between  the  agents 
of  the  two  fur  companies,  namely,  the  Russian  American  Com- 
pany and  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Not  until  1826  did  the 
Russians  extend  their  explorations  along  the  northwestern 
coast  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon.  The  establishment  of  a  post 
at  St.  Michael  prepared  the  way  for  trade  up  the  great  river 
of  Alaska.  In  1843  Zagoskin  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Tanana 
and  built  Nulato. 

While  the  Russians  were  exploring  the  west  coast  of  Alaska, 
the  English  were  finding  their  way  along  the  Arctic.  In  1789 
Mackenzie  descended  the  river  that  now  bears  his  name  and 
reached  the  frozen  sea.  In  1826  Franklin  went  westward  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie.  Then  the  relief  expeditions  sent 
from  England  (between  1845  and  1853)  in  search  of  Franklin 
explored  and  charted  portions  of  the  Seward  Peninsula. 

The  great  interior  region  was  still  unknown,  although  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  persistently  advancing  its  out- 
posts westward.  In  1840  a  'factor'  or  agent  of  that  company 
established  a  trading  post  at  the  head  of  the  Pelly,  a  tributary 
of  the  Yukon.  In  1847  Fort  Yukon  was  built  by  Murray.  The 
English  traders  heard  that  the  Russians  were  in  the  lower 
Yukon,  and  in  1850  they  descended  to  Nulato.  Thus  here  and 


DISCOVERY  AND  DEVELOPMENT.  13 

there  at  enormous  distances  apart  the  lonely  outposts  of  the 
European  races  were  gaining  a  foothold.  The  only  object  of 
their  intrusion  into  the  inhospitable  wilderness  was  the  trade 
in  furs.  No  whisper  of  gold  was  heard. 

In  1863  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  sent  an 
expedition  to  survey  a  telegraph  line  that  was  to  connect 
America  and  Europe,  by  way  of  Asia.  Submarine  transmis- 
sion by  cable  under  the  Atlantic  was  believed  to  be  imprac- 


ON  THE   MUSH. 

ticable.  The  survey  of  the  proposed  route  through  British 
Columbia,  Alaska,  and  Siberia,  involved  the  exploration  of 
regions  but  little  known.  In  Siberia,  George  Kennan  did  good 
work ;  in  Alaska,  Robert  Kennicott  was  the  leading  spirit. 
Although  the  project  of  a  telegraphic  system  was  nipped  in 
1867  by  the  announcement  that  the  Atlantic  cable  was  a  suc- 
cess, the  explorations  made  then  and  thereafter  by  the  men  in 
charge  of  the  Western  Union  expeditions  proved  most  impor- 
tant. They  ascended  the  Yukon,  and  they  crossed  the  Seward 
Peninsula.  The  information  they  procured  proved  of  great 


14  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

value  in  the  negotiations  between  the  American  and  Russian 
governments  at  the  time  of  the  transfer,  and  the  routes  they 
mapped  were  followed  by  the  telegraph  lines  built  as  soon  as 
the  country  became  famous  for  its  gold  deposits. 

In  1867  Russian  America  was  purchased  by  the  United 
States  for  the  sum  of  $7,200,000,  and  the  'district/  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  William  Seward,  the  Secretary  of  State,  was  named 
'Alaska'.  At  that  time  the  finding  of  gold  had  been  reported 
in  a  vague  way,  but  no  profitable  mining  had  been  done.  The 
Chilkoot  Indians  opposed  the  incoming  prospector  until  1880, 
when  16  miners,  under  Edmund  Bean,  crossed  the  Chilkoot 
pass  and  descended  the  upper  branches  of  the  Yukon.  In  1883 
Frederick  Schwatka  crossed  the  same  pass  and  followed  the 
Yukon  all  the  way  to  the  sea.  His  graphic  account  of  the  expe- 
dition appeared  in  the  Century  magazine  and  did  much  to  excite 
interest  in  Alaska.  But  an  event  even  more  important  was  the 
voting  by  the  American  Congress  in  1895  of  a  small  appropria- 
tion enabling  the  Geological  Survey  to  send  a  party  into  Alaska. 
From  that  year  up  to  the  present,  successive  parties  of  scien- 
tific explorers  have  carried  the  investigations  of  the  Survey 
across  the  rivers,  mountains,  and  morasses  of  Alaska,  doing  a 
work  the  value  of  which  is  now  fully  appreciated. 

A  little  desultory  gold  and  copper  mining  had  been  done  in 
a  few  localities,  but  with  the  exception  of  the  great  Treadwell 
mine  and  one  or  twro  others  in  the  vicinity  of  Juneau,  mining 
in  Alaska  was  a  negligible  quantity.  Then  suddenly,  as  out  of 
a  clear  sky,  came  the  tremendous  shout  of  a  big  boom,  with  all 
the  excitement  that  follows  wonderful  discoveries  of  gold.  In 
1896  George  Carmack  found  gold  on  the  Klondike,  in  the 
Yukon  Territory.  A  mob  of  50,000  adventurers  rushed  to  the 
diggings.  In  1898  the  golden  beach  of  Nome  was  discovered 
and  another  stampede  ensued.  Alaska  had  arrived. 


CHAPTER  III. 
JUNEAU. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  from  Seattle  the  Jefferson 
reaches  Juneau.  It  it  early  dawn ;  the  mists  are  climbing  the 
wooded  slopes  of  the  mountains  that  border  the  straight  course 
of  Gastineau  Channel.  To  our  left,  or  westward,  the  dwellings, 
offices,  and  shaft-houses  of  the  Treadwell  mines  form  a  long 
settlement  along  the  shore  of  Douglas  island,  whose  higher 
contours  are  surmounted  by  the  snowclad  peak  named  Jumbo. 
Close  to  the  water  are  several  large  buildings  emitting  the 
muffled  roar  that  proves  them  to  be  stamp-mills.  The  red  head- 
frame  of  No.  2  shaft  of  the  Alaska  Treadwell  mine  is  silhou- 
etted against  the  gray  wall  of  the  cavernous  opening  called  the 
'glory  hole'.  On  the  beach  a  gray  building,  resembling  a  nata- 
torium,  is  the  club  where  the  miners  congregate.  The  big 
bunk-houses,  one  of  them  in  process  of  repair,  suggest  other 
human  aspects  of  the  mining  business.  On  the  first  rise  above 
the  shore  are  a  number  of  new  cottages,  giving  a  touch  of  the 
picturesque  to  this  industrial  settlement.  A  long  wharf  indi- 
cates the  magnitude  of  the  trade  in  supplies  and  machinery 
arising  from  the  operation  of  mines  producing  $3,250,000  per 
annum  and  employing  1200  men.  Oil  tanks,  freshly  painted 
bright  red,  punctuate  the  foreshore  and  assert  the  economy 
of  liquid  fuel  over  coal.  They  give  a  chromatic  liveliness  to 
the  quiet  landscape.  Behind  the  wharf  the  residence  of  the 
general  manager  suggests  the  watchful  skill  dominating  large 
operations,  while  the  lace  curtains  and  neat  lawn  bespeak  the 
womanly  grace  that  makes  of  every  abiding  place  a  home. 

Two  miles  northward,  up  the  channel,   on  the  other  side, 
Avhich  is  the  mainland,  the  pretty  town  of  Juneau  lies  ensconced 


16  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

in  the  lap  of  the  mountains  guarding  the  passes  into  the  North- 
land. Above  the  town  is  the  alluvial  fan  at  the  mouth  of 
Gold  creek,  the  stream  that  led  the  pioneers  of  1880  to  the 
rich  deposits  of  Silver  Bow  basin,  a  glacial  cirque,  five  miles 
above  Juneau. 

It  has  been  said  that  Juneau  is  the  gateway  to  the  mining 
regions  of  Alaska ;  undoubtedly,  this  pioneer  settlement  has 
been  the  point  of  departure  for  the  adventurous  spirits  that 
explored  the  wilderness  and  laid  the  foundations  of  existing 
industrial  development.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  transfer  of 
Alaska  from  Russia  to  the  United  States,  in  1867,  there  had 
been  no  gold  mining.  The  Russian  governors,  of  whom  Bara- 
noff  was  chief,  had  discouraged  the  search  for  gold  because  it 
might  have  interfered  with  the  fur  trade,  which  was  their 
source  of  profit.  For  gold  mining  they  had  no  liking,  and  of 
it  they  had  no  knowledge.  Some  old  records  prove  that  the 
Russians  had  observed  the  occurrence  of  gold  in  several  locali- 
ties but  made  no  effort  to  exploit  the  deposits.  The  Stikine 
river,  about  1865,  was  invaded  by  prospectors  and  in  1874  the 
Cassiar  diggings  were  established  on  the  Canadian  side  of  the 
boundary,  just  out  of  Alaska.  In  1869  some  of  the  miners  from 
the  Stikine  went  north  and  made  placer  discoveries  on  Wind- 
ham  bay  and  Sumdum  bay.  In  1870-71  about  $40,000  was 
obtained  from  these  two  localities.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
gold  mining  in  Alaska. 

Near  Sitka,  on  Baranoff  island,  mining  began  in  1877,  with 
the  location  of  the  Lucky  Chance  and  Stewart  on  Silver  bay. 
One  of  the  operators  on  the  Stewart  was  George  E.  Pilz,  who 
erected  the  first  10-stamp  mill  in  Alaska  on  that  mine  in  1879. 
Rumors  of  gold  had  been  afloat  among  the  people  of  Sitka  for 
many  years-  before,  and  ever  since.  It  is  said  that  more  than 
30  years  ago  the  Auk  Indians  used  to  come  to  Sitka  wearing 
gold  ornaments;  for  Sitka  was  then  the  centre  of  the  coastal 
trade.  In  1878  John  Muir  was  deputed  by  the  United  States 
Government  to  explore  southeastern  Alaska,  and  in  his  report 
he  stated  that  the  region  between  Windham  bay  on  Stephens 
passage,  about  65  miles  southeast  from  the  site  of  Juneau,  and 
Sullivan  island.  60  miles  northwest,  in  Lvnn  Canal,  would  make 


lg  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

a  second  California.  This  report  in  pamphlet  form  came  to 
Sitka  in  the  early  spring  of  1880.  George  E.  Pilz  had  just 
completed  his  stamp-mill.  He  and  N.  A.  Fuller,  a  local  mer- 
chant, after  reading  Muir's  report,  decided  to  send  prospectors 
into  the  gold-bearing  region  described  by  the  celebrated  natu- 
ralist. As  soon  as  spring  opened  and  the  snow  was  off  the 
mountains,  Pilz  and  Fuller  engaged  Joseph  Juneau,  a  French 
Canadian,  and  Richard  T.  Harris,  an  American.  These  two 
miners  were  properly  outfitted ;  accompanied  by  three  Indians, 
they  started  on  July  19,  1880.  From  Sitka  they  went  in  a  small 
boat  first  to  Windham  bay,  then  to  Sumdum,  then  back  to 
Windham  bay,  where  they  located  several  claims.  Crossing 
Taku  inlet,  a  treacherous  passage,  they  sailed  north  to  the 
head  of  Lynn  Canal.  Coming  back  they  called  at  the  Auk 
village  12  miles  north  of  the  site  of  Juneau  and  obtained  some 
information  from  the  Indians.  Skirting  the  eastern  shore  they 
ran  aground  on  the  bar  of  Gastineau  Channel  at  the  north  end 
of  Douglas  island,  and  camped  on  August  16.  While  prospect- 
ing thej-  found  a  creek  so  full  of  dead  salmon  that  they  named 
it  Salmon  creek,  the  name  it  now  bears.  Rowing  four  or  five 
miles  farther  south  along  the  east  shore  they  came  upon 
another  stream,  at  the  mouth  of  which  they  found  sand  con- 
taining gold.  This  they  named  Gold  creek.  The  date  was 
August  17,  1880.  They  made  their  way  up  the  canyon  for  about 
two  miles,  where  they  found  some  rich  quartz  veins  and  located 
several  claims.  Being  short  of  provisions,  the  two  explorers 
went  back  to  Sitka  on  August  23,  but  returned  immediately  to 
Gold  creek,  which  they  examined  carefully  from  its  mouth  to 
Silver  Bow  basin,  a  distance  of  five  miles.  Many  more  claims 
were  located.  With  the  aid  of  the  Indians  they  cut  a  trail  and 
packed  800  pounds  of  specimen  ore.  with  which  they  returned 
to  Sitka  in  November. 

Juneau  and  Harris  gave  a  frank  account  of  their  discoveries. 
Inevitably,  there  was  much  excitement  in  the  little  frontier 
outpost.  A  stampede  followed.  Among  the  first  to  go  was 
Edmund  Bean,  who  camped  on  the  site  of  Juneau.  then  covered 
with  a  forest  of  spruce  and  hemlock.  Juneau  and  Harris, 
together  with  five  others,  hurried  thither  in  a  steam  launch 


THE  SUMDUM  CHIEF  MINE. 
(Photographed  by  Moonlight.) 


20  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

borrowed  from  the  U.  S.  gunboat  Jamestown,  then  lying  in  the 
harbor  of  Sitka.  Eleven  other  men,  including  John  Olds,  Hugh 
Campbell,  and  John  Dix,  hired  the  steamer  Favorite  and  left 
Sitka  on  November  26.  On  arrival  they  found  that  the  pre- 
ceding party  had  located  by  proxy,  which  was  contrary  to  the 
regulations  of  the  Cassiar  district,  where  most  of  the  pros- 
pectors had  obtained  their  notions  of  mining  law.  The  town- 
site  also  was  located,  covering  everything  except  what  is  now 
Main  street.  During  the  wrinter  a  dozen  cabins  were  built.  In 
the  spring  of  1881  the  Northwest  Trading  Co.  sent  a  repre- 
sentative, Edward  De  Groff,  to  open  a  store.  He  came  in  a 
sloop  with  a  party  of  seven  others  and  a  stock  of  supplies. 
Shortly  afterward  a  post-office  was  established  with  De  Groff 
as  postmaster. 

In  October  1880  before  returning  to  Sitka,  Dick  Harris  and 
Juneau,  with  three  natives,  held  a  so-called  miners'  meeting 
on  the  site  of  Juneau.  Harris  wrote  the  laws  of  the  mining 
district.  The  preamble  states  that  the  meeting  was  organized 
"by  Richard  T.  Harris,  Joseph  Juneau,  and  three  representa- 
tives of  Geo.  E.  Pilz  and  N.  A.  Fuller."  The  natives  and 
Juneau  could  neither  read  nor  write,  so  that  everything  was 
left  to  Dick,  who  named  the  future  town  Harrisburg  and  also 
gave  his  own  name  to  the  mining  district. 

Harris  and  his  friends  returned  to  Sitka,  bringing  the  books 
with  them ;  when  the  rush  commenced  and  the  miners  arrived 
at  Juneau,  they  found  no  way  to  record  their  claims,  the 
Recorder  and  the  books  being  at  Sitka.  A  strong  demand  was 
made  for  the  return  of  both.  Harris  sent  the  records  in  the 
Jamestown  launch  in  February  1881,  by  the  hands  of  Lieut. 
Commander  C.  II.  Rockwell.  At  a  meeting  called  soon  after, 
Richard  Dixon  was  elected  Recorder,  and  Harris  being  unpop- 
ular just  then,  the  72  miners  present  voted  to  christen  the  town 
Rockwell,  to  which  Rockwell  objected;  therefore,  the  name 
Harrisburg  was  retained  until  December  1881,  when  at  a  mass 
meeting  called  to  settle  disputes  and  make  town  regulations, 
the  name  of  the  settlement  was  changed  to  Juneau.  Harrisburg 
was  "too  commonplace."  De  Groff  was  secretary  of  the  meet- 
ing and  the  minutes  now  form  part  of  the  records  at  Juneau. 


JUNEAU. 


21 


Some  of  the  resolutions  were  unique  in  their  way  but  they  have 
been  used  as  precedents  in  recent  litigation.  Poor  Dick  Harris 
had  tried  hard  to  perpetuate  his  name  but  he  was  destined  to 
lose  the  distinction.  First  the  name  of  the  town  was  changed 
to  Juneau,  as  described  above,  and  when  the  District  of  Alaska 
was  organized  in  1900,  the  Harris  Mining  District  became  the 


JUNEAU  AND  VICINITY. 


Juneau  Recording  District.    Thus  Dick's  illiterate  partner  won 
fame  without  an  effort. 

John  Olds,  now  proprietor  of  the  Occidental  hotel,  at  Ju- 
neau, was  the  second  man  to  reach  (in  April  1881)  the  ridge 
above  Silver  Bow  basin,  where  the  outcrops  of  the  Alaska- 
Perseverance  and  Groundhog  lodes  cross  the  mountain.  He 
tells  me  that  wherever  the  snow  was  gone  he  saw  lots  of  loose 
'float' — pieces  of  ore  from  a  vein — and  in  these  fragments  of 
quartz  he  could  see  gold.  The  veteran  acknowledges  that  he 
became  excited  and  thought  he  had  found  "the  richest  country 
on  earth."  He  located  the  claims,  but  when  the  experts  came 
and  condemned  the  discovery,  he  dropped  his  locations.  Sub- 


22  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

sequently  the  'float'  was  gathered  and  carried  for  treatment 
to  a  little  arrastre  that  was  built  near  the  head  of  the  present 
Perseverance  ditch.  Another  of  the  pioneers  of  Alaska  is  Hi 
Chung  or  'China  Joe',  who  came  to  Wrangell  in  '74  and  to 
Juneau  in  '81.  When  the  Chinese  were  driven  out  in  1885,  he 
was  allowed  to  remain,  because  he  had  a  house  and  lot,  and  a 
bakery.  "Many  a  hungry  white  man  and  Indian  has  he  fed, 
you  bet."  and  the  prospectors  are  always  owing  him  money 
for  bread.  He  attends  meetings  of  the  pioneers  and  is  proud 
to  participate. 

Juneau  was  incorporated  on  June  29,  1900,  and  in  1906  it 
became  the  capital  of  the  District  of  Alaska.  Thereby  hangs 
a  tale.  At  the  time  of  the  transfer,  in  1867,  Sitka  was  chosen 
as  the  headquarters  of  the  commanding  officer  attached  to  the 
department  of  the  Columbia ;  in  1879  a  naval  officer  was  placed 
in  command ;  in  1884  a  civil  government  was  established,  con- 
sisting of  a  governor,  a  judge,  a  marshall  (who  was  ex-officio 
surveyor  general),  a  district  attorney,  and  a  clerk  of  the  Court. 
At  first  there  was  only  one  judicial  district,  but  later  two  more 
were  established.  Until  1900  the  laws  of  Oregon  were  made 
applicable  to  Alaska.  In  1900  a  code  of  laws  was  given  by  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  and  in  some  of  these  enactments 
the  District  of  Alaska  is  first  called  a  'territory'.  In  1906 
Alaska  was  given  the  right  to  elect  a  delegate  to  the  Congress, 
like  the  other  Territories.  The  code  of  1900,  known  as  the 
Carter  code,  established  the  seat  of  government  at  Juneau, 
providing  however  that  it  should  remain  at  Sitka  until  suit- 
able buildings  became  available  "by  purchase  or  otherwise"  at 
Juneau.  In  May  1906  the  Congress  arranged  that  the  contin- 
gent fund  appropriated  for  the  Governor  of  Alaska  should  be 
available  for  the  rent  of  an  office  and  residence  at  Juneau. 
Suitable  buildings  were  leased  and  the  seat  of  government  was 
transferred  from  Sitka  to  Juneau  on  October  1,  1906.  by  Wil- 
ford  B.  Iloggatt.  the  sixth  Governor  of  Alaska. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE   TREADWELL  MINES. 

The  beginnings  of  big  enterprises  are  always  romantic  when 
viewed  through  the  telescope  of  success ;  the  story  of  a  mine 
that  has  yielded  millions  in  gold  will  command  interest,  espe- 
cially among  those  engaged  in  the  search  for  a  duplicate. 
Herewith  is  the  tale  of  the  discovery  and  development  of  the 
Alaska  Treadwell,  which  has  produced  $22,500,000  and  paid 
$10,500,000  in  dividends: 

The  man  who  found  the  Treadwell  lode  was  Pierre  Erussard, 
a  French  Canadian,  known  to  his  acquaintances  as  French 
Pete.  He  lived  among  the  Indians  and  was  a  prospector.  Some 
of  the  veterans  describe  him  as  tall,  well  built,  and  dark,  with 
the  black  hair,  mustache,  and  tufted  beard  common  to  his 
countrymen.  When  Juneau  and  Harris  came  to  Sitka  with 
their  news  concerning  Gold  creek,  Pierre  started  forth  on  a 
similar  quest,  accompanied  Toy  several  Indians,  one  of  whom 
was  his  wife's  brother.  They  landed  on  the  beach  of  Douglas 
island  in  November  1880  and  found  gold  in  the  sand.  Pierre 
also  found  an  outcrop  of  gold-bearing  quartz  on  the  hillslope, 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  shore.  He  located  two 
claims  to  cover  this  ore ;  one  of  them  Avas  called  the  Paris,  after 
the  capital  of  France,  and  the  other  he  named  the  Bear's  Nest, 
because  he  found  the  ground  occupied  by  a  bear  and  her  two 
cubs. 

The  original  discovery  was  made  on  the  west  side  of  Paris 
creek,  a  streamlet,  long  since  obliterated,  that  formerly  ran 
down  the  slope  now  deeply  scarred  by  the  big  excavations  of 
the  Alaska  Treadwell  mine.  The  creek  exposed  the  outcrop  of 
white  quartz ;  but  this  was  only  a  small  part  of  the  top  of  the 


24  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

lode,  the  rest  of  it  being  covered  with  blue  clay  containing 
numerous  barnacles.  Kemnants  of  this  deposit  are  still  visible 
nearer  the  beach.  This  is  evidence  of  a  former  shore-line  and 
one  proof,  out  of  many,  that  southeastern  Alaska  is  undergoing 
slow  elevation.  The  disintegrated  quartz  of  the  outcrop  was 
shoveled  by  Pierre  into  his  sluice-boxes  and  a  little  later  he 
drove  a  shallow  adit  or  'tunnel'  to  cut  the  lode  a  few  feet  below 
the  moss-covered  surface.  This  was  the  first  mining  on  Douglas 
island. 

The  Paris  claim  covered  the  site  of  the  present  '  glory  hole. ' 
Pierre  worked  the  small  placer  formed  by  the  concentration 
of  the  gold  eroded  from  the  big  outcrop  of  the  quartz  lode  and 
he  also  dug  into  the  softer  superficial  portion  of  the  lode  itself, 
washing  the  gold-bearing  material  thus  obtained.  He  had 
rockers  and  sluice-boxes  of  the  conventional  kind,  with  which 
he  did  fairly  well.  But  it  was  no  bonanza,  compared  to  Gold 
creek.  Therefore  it  is  not  surprising  that  Pierre  sold  the  better 
of  his  two  claims  a  year  later.  The  record  states:  "Septem- 
ber 13,  1881.  Transfer  of  Paris  lode  from  Pierre  Joseph  Erus- 
sard  (or  'French  Pete'),  original  locator,  to  John  Treadwell, 
in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  five  dollars  ($5.00)." 

John  Treadwell  was  a  builder  and  contractor,  with  experi- 
ence in  mining,  for  as  early  as  1869  he  had  worked  in  White 
Pine  county,  Nevada,  and  for  12  years  before  going  to  Alaska 
he  had  been  engaged  both  in  quartz  and  hydraulic  mining  in 
Nevada  and  California.  In  1881  he  had  charge  of  the  building 
of  a  house  for  John  D.  Fry,  a  banker  who  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  early  development  of  San  Francisco  and  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  California  Safe  Deposit  &  Trust  Co.  To 
Colonel  Fry  and  to  his  friend  James  Freeborn  there  came  the 
story  of  a  rich  prospect  in  the  hills  behind  Juneau.  Looking 
around  them  for  a  man  to  be  sent  in  their  behalf  to  inspect  the 
mine,  Fry  suggested  Treadwell  as  being  both  trustworthy  and 
possessed  of  enough  mining  experience  to  be  able  to  appraise  a 
prospect.  It  was  arranged  to  pay  Treadwell 's  expenses  and  to 
give  him  a  one-third  interest  in  the  mine,  if  the  purchase  was 
recommended.  Treadwell  went  north,  saw  the  prospect,  and 
found  that  it  was  a  stringer  of  quartz  carrying  free  gold.  This 


F"    A 
Q    .« 


a  g 
£  s 


o  >, 

O    •<= 

J    - 


26  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

small  vein  was  in  the  slate  belt  close  to  the  present  Ebuer 
mine,  near  Silver  Bow  basin,  and  whatever  other  unfavorable 
marks  it  may  have  had  it  was  plain  to  Treadwell  that  most  of 
the  rich  ore  had  been  dug  out.  Naturally  disappointed,  he  de- 
cided to  return  to  San  Francisco,  and  it  was  while  waiting  for 
a  steamer  at  Juneau  that  he  first  met  French  Pete  (otherwise 
Pierre  Erussard),  who  had  opened  a  store  in  that  town.  Pierre 
happened  to  need  ready  money  to  pay  for  freight  on  stores  that 
had  just  arrived  from  the  south ;  he  wanted  $500,  and  was 
willing  to  accept  that  sum  for  an  interest  in  his  mine  on 
Douglas  island.  Without  going  to  see  the  claim,  Treadwell 
"took  a  nyer, "  and  advanced  $500  from  the  funds  intended 
for  the  purchase  of  the  other  mine.  Then  he  went  across  the 
water  to  see  what  Pierre  possessed.  Treadwell  liked  the  look 
of  the  lode  and  took  a  bond  on  the  Paris  claim  for  $20.000. 
He  then  went  prospecting,  spending  the  remainder  of  the  time 
before  the  close  of  the  season  in  testing  his  new  acquisition. 
Before  returning  to  San  Francisco  he  stayed  with  Pierre  for 
two  weeks.  Treadwell  stated  that  the  Paris  ore  was  too  low- 
grade  and  suggested  that  if  Pierre  would  give  him  a  quit-claim 
deed  for  $5  he  would  try  to  sell  the  mine  in  San  Francisco,  and 
would  undertake  to  trade  at  Pierre's  store  if  the  sale  were 
effected.  The  deal  was  made.  Treadwell  went  to  San  Fran- 
cisco and  returned  on  May  17,  1882,  with  a  5-stamp  mill,  which 
he  erected  on  the  Paris  claim.  Fry  and  Freeborn  completed 
their  agreement,  and  thus  Treadwell  got  a  third  of  the  mine. 
A  few  years  later  Freeborn  was  prompted  by  ill  health  to  sell 
his  interest,  which  was  then  offered  to  U.  O.  Mills,  who.  after 
making  a  trip  to  Alaska  personally  to  inspect  the  mine,  decided 
to  make  the  purchase,  and  thus  obtained  Freeborn 's  holding. 
The  Alaska  Mill  &  Mining  Co.  was  formed  and  controlled  the 
Paris  mine,  together  with  adjoining  property,  until  June  1, 
1890,  when  the  Alaska  Treadwell  Gold  Mining  Co.  Avas  incor- 
porated under  the  laws  of  Minnesota.  In  deference  to  his 
great  business  ability,  Mr.  Mills  has  always  remained  in  control, 
though  a  majority  interest  was  purchased  in  1890  by  the  Ex- 
ploration Company,  of  London,  on  the  advice  of  Hamilton 
Smith.  He  was  the  first  consulting  engineer  to  the  Alaska 


28  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Treadwell  Co.  and  was  followed  successively  by  H.  C.  Perkins, 
Thomas  Mem,  and  F.  W.  Bradley.  Thus  this  great  mining 
enterprise  was  started.  In  1883  work  was  begun  on  the  first 
large  mill,  of  120  stamps,  and  was  completed  two  years  later. 
In  1887,  120  more  stamps  were  placed  under  the  same  roof. 
Between  1893  and  1899  the  Mexican,  Seven  Hundred  Foot,  and 
Ready  Bullion  mills  were  erected,  and  the  new  300-stamp  mill 
of  the  Alaska  Treadwell.  Thus  880  stamps  were  put  to  work. 
All  of  these  are  now  active,  treating  1,360,000  tons  and  yield- 
ing $3,250,000  per  year. 

Every  visitor  to  Douglas  island  climbs  the  short  slope  that 
leads  to  the  'glory  hole.'  This  is  an  enormous  pit  made  in  the 
course  of  mining.  The  lode  has  been  removed  to  a  maximum 
width  of  420  feet  and  for  a  length  of  1400  feet.  The  deepest 
point  of  the  bottom  is  now  at  580  feet  below  the  surface. 
Standing  on  the  edge  of  this  cavernous  excavation  the  traveler 
will  realize  what  a  vast  amount  of  ore  is  crushed  within  the 
relentless  maw  of  the  big  stamp-mills.  The  540  stamps  of  the 
Alaska  Treadwell  require  2750  to  3000  tons  per  day  to  keep 
going.  From  the  glory  hole  5,086,500  tons  has  been  taken  out. 
In  1895,  the  first  underground  stoping  was  done,  but  since  1905 
practically  all  ore  milled  has  come  from  underground  stopes, 
which,  up  to  May  31,  1908,  have  yielded  4,141,682  tons  on  a 
total  amount  milled  to  that  date  of  9,228,182  tons  of  ore.  Even 
a  careless  observer  will  note  that  the  rock  is  not  all  quartz.  On 
the  foot-wall  or  western  face  the  black  slate  is  exposed  and 
on  the  opposite  side,  called  the  hanging  wall,  the  gray-green  of 
gabbro  is  contrasted  with  the  white  ore.  In  the  midst  of  the 
ore  a  tongue  of  slate  protrudes,  widening  to  the  south  so  as 
to  split  the  lode.  This  will  suggest  something  of  the  geology. 

The  orebodies  of  the  Treadwell  group  of  mines  consist  of 
dikes  of  diorite  penetrating  the  contact  between  an  older  up- 
turned bed  of  this  green  gabbro  and  the  slate  itself.  The 
diorite  is  of  volcanic  origin  and  came  from  below  through  frac- 
tures in  the  crust  of  the  earth  after  the  manner  of  water  rising 
in  the  cracks  formed  in  overlying  ice.  Subsequently  the  molten 
rock  cooled,  shrank,  cracked,  and  was  penetrated  by  thermal 
waters,  such  as  usually  mark  the  quiescent  stages  of  volcanic 


30  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

activity.  These  waters  contained  the  gold,  derived  from  other 
rocks  below,  and  as  they  circulated  along  the  lines  of  least  re- 
sistance established  first  by  the  intrusion  and  then  by  the  cool- 
ing of  the  diorite  they  precipitated  the  gold  through  inter- 
stices in  the  diorite,  together  with  quartz.  Thus  the  lode  was 
formed. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  place  for  scientific  detail;  I  re- 
alize that  my  readers  are  with  me  on  a  holiday  journey  to  the 
North  and  must  not  be  bored  with  too  much  geology.  Atten- 
tion easily  wanders  from  scientific  considerations  to  others  not 
less  interesting.  Looking  down,  the  mine  workings  that  pierce 
the  sides  of  the  immense  excavation  and  penetrate  into  mys- 
terious inner  chambers  appear  like  the  tunnelings  of  a  mole. 
A  ladder  resting  near  the  bottom  emphasizes  the  dimensions 
and  the  throwing  of  a  stone  across  the  void  suggests  the  de- 
ceptive largeness  of  it.  The  accompanying  photograph  does 
not  do  justice  to  the  subject  because  the  colors  are  lacking :  the 
white  quartz,  the  blue-black  slate,  the  fringe  of  green  bushes, 
the  gray  stems  of  the  spruce,  and  the  reddish  splashes  where 
wind  and  weather  have  decomposed  the  iron  minerals.  The 
yellow  sunshine  bathes  one  side  of  the  pit  while  deep  blue 
shadows  lurk  on  the  other  side ;  over  the  edge  is  the  dark  red 
head-frame  of  a  shaft-house ;  beyond  it  the  flash  of  waters 
marks  Gastineau  Channel,  with  a  green  shore  on  the  farther 
side;  and  more  distant  still  are  the  blue  hills  silver-crested  with 
eternal  snow. 

Hut  to  see  the  real  Alaska  Treadwell  mine  you  must  go  un- 
derground, descending  one  of  the  shafts  in  a  'cage,'  only 
slightly  less  pretentious  than  an  office  elevator.  This  brings 
you  to  a  'station,'  from  which  galleries  extend  into  the  heart 
of  the  rock.  Following  the  rails  of  the  car-track,  you  step 
to  one  side  as  a  train  of  cars,  pulled  by  a  horse,  comes  rattling 
past;  then  you  ascend  a  short  ladder  and  reach  a  cavernous 
opening,  dimly  illumined  by  candles  placed  at  the  points  where 
men  are  at  work.  The  great  opening  is  180  feet  wide  and  100 
feet  long,  it  is  separated  by  pillars  IS  to  125  feet  thick  from 
similar  chambers,  so  that  a  space  41.0  feet  long  and  from  l.">0 
to  200  feet  wide  has  been  excavated.  The  gold-bearing  rock 


32  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

has  been  broken  for  a  height  of  160  feet  above  the  tenth  level, 
but  as  yet  only  a  little  of  the  broken  ore  has  been  removed, 
enabling  the  miners  to  stand  on  it  while  they  attack  the  ground 
above  them.  The  general  effect  is  that  of  a  flatly  arched  low- 
roofed  cavern  with  an  irregular  rugged  floor  of  broken  ore. 
The  lights  show  dimly  and  the  chugging  of  the  machine-drills 
fills  the  vault  with  sound.  This  stope  is  so  large  that  each  foot 
of  additional  height  over  the  entire  area  yields  1000  tons  of  ore. 
As  seen  from  the  level  the  men  in  the  distant  corners  of  the 
stope  look  like  gnomes,  but  the  candle-light  throws  shadows  of 
giant  size.  This  stope  communicates  with  others,  both  above 
and  below. 

The  non-technical  visitor  will  wonder  how  such  openings 
are  made  without  danger  of  the  rock  collapsing  on  the  workers. 
The  solution  of  this  problem  involves  an  important  phase  of 
mining  engineering.  In  this  case  safety  is  secured  by  leaving 
a  thickness  of  25  feet  of  rock  across  the  width  of  the  lode  at  in- 
tervals of  70  to  80  feet.  This  makes  a  'pillar'  able  to  sustain 
the  'walls'  and  from  these  'pillars'  the  roof  arches  flatly  in 
such  fashion  as  to  support  the  overhanging  mass  of  rock.  Yet 
many  men  are  killed.  When  a  fatal  accident  happens  it  is 
usually  due  to  carelessness  on  their  part ;  experienced  men  can 
tell  whether  a  crack  means  loose  rock,  by  sounding  with  a  ham- 
mer ;  a  fall  of  rock  is  heralded  by  crackling,  even  for  a  week  be- 
forehand, and  thus  gives  warning.  But  some  men  will  take 
needless  risks ;  a  miner  will  sometimes  deliberately  cross  a 
stope  under  ground  he  knows  to  be  bad,  to  avoid  making  a 
circuit  when  carrying  his  machine-drill  to  another  place.  He 
pays  the  forfeit. 

The  main  levels  are  lighted  by  electricity,  but  tail-rope 
systems  of  mechanical  haulage  are  used  for  traction  because  the 
distances  are  short  and  the  tracks  crooked.  The  horses  em- 
ployed for  traction  weigh  from  1050  to  1200  pounds  apiece 
and  cost  $200  at  Seattle.  They  are  lowered  into  the  mine  in 
a  special  harness,  so  made  as  to  prevent  them  from  kicking. 
When  about  to  be  taken  into  the  mine,  the  horse  is  tied  so  that 
he  cannot  move  and  is  then  swung  into  the  cage,  with  his  head 
held  up.  Most  of  the  horses  are  scared  at  first,  but  after  a 


34  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

couple  of  days  they  become  broken  to  their  work  and  learn  to 
know  what  is  wanted  of  them. 

On  returning  to  the  surface  from  the  gloom  of  the  mine, 
the  sunlight  seems  all  the  sweeter  and  the  movement  of  life 
and  color  is  keenly  appreciated.  The  superintendent  leads  the 
visitor  to  one  of  the  big  mills,  for  instance,  the  one  that  con- 
tains 300  stamps  and  crushes  1650  tons  of  ore  per  day.  The 
mills  of  the  gods  crush  exceeding  fine,  but  so  does  this  one ;  and 
even  the  thunders  of  Jove  would  not  silence  the  roar  that  comes 
from  the  batteries  of  the  Alaska  Treadwell.  A  stamp  is  like  a 
hammer  and  it  falls  on  a  die  that  takes  the  place  of  the  anvil. 
By  dropping  on  the  pieces  of  ore,  the  particles  of  gold  are  re- 
leased, as  a  kernel  in  the  nut  that  is  cracked.  The  operation  of 
crushing  takes  place  within  a  closed  iron  box,  called  the  'mor- 
tar.' This  has  an  opening  guarded  by  a  wire  screen,  so  that 
the  ore  cannot  issue  until  it  has  been  pulverized.  Water  is 
fed  into  the  mortar,  and  when  the  stamp  falls  this  water  is 
splashed  against  the  screen.  As  it  escapes  from  the  mortar 
the  water  carrying  the  crushed  ore  runs  down  an  inclined 
table  covered  with  amalgamated  copper  plate.  This  arrests  the 
gold,  which  readily  combines  with  the  mercury  on  the  surface 
of  the  copper  plate  and  forms  an  amalgam,  that  is,  an  alloy 
with  mercury.  While  the  gold  is  caught  thus  by  the  interven- 
tion of  mercury,  the  pyrite,  quartz,  and  other  lighter  minerals 
in  the  ore  are  washed  to  the  foot  of  the  tables  and  are  led  to 
vanners  or  concentrators  on  which  further  separation  takes 
place,  the  worthless  refuse  flowing  into  Gastineau  Channel 
while  the  heavy  pyrite  is  saved,  together  with  the  fine  gold 
closely  associated  with  this  iron  mineral.  The  concentrate  thus 
obtained  is  shipped  in  bulk  by  steamer  to  the  smelter  at  Ta- 
foma.  where  it  is  smelted  with  lead  ore.  The  gold  obtained  as 
amalgam  is  retorted,  that  is,  the  mercury  is  distilled,  leaving 
the  gold  behind  in  a  spongy  mass,  which  is  finally  purified  by 
being  melted  with  fluxes  in  a  crucible. 

Each  si  a  inj)  consists  of  a  stem  and  a  heavy  shoe,  the  total 
falling  weight  being  1100  pounds.  This  mass  falls  7  inches 
and  08  times  per  minute,  so  that  it  represents  02,883  foot- 
pounds or  1.0  horse-power.  Hut  much  of  the  energy  thus  de- 


36  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

veloped  is  wasted.  Each  stamp  crushes  an  average  of  5l/2  tons 
per  24  hours  to  a  powder  so  small  that  it  will  pass  through  a 
wire-screen  corresponding  to  a  sieve  having  400  holes  per 
square  inch.  The  ore  contains  $2.35  per  ton  and  yields  $2.15, 
the  waste  assaying  20  cents.  This  accumulates  along  the  fore- 
shore and  forms  a  long  white  spit  of  sand.  The  cost  of  milling 
ranges  from  12  to  22  cents  per  ton,  the  low  figure  appertain- 
ing to  the  newest  mill.  The  total  cost  of  mining  and  milling, 
together  with  general  expenses,  is  only  $1.35,  so  that  a  profit  of 
43%  is  earned.  During  the  year  ending  May  31,  1908,  the 
Alaska  Treadwell  mine  produced  743,097  tons  of  ore,  yielding 
$887,509  in  gold  from  amalgam,  and  $736,636  from  the  concen- 
trate, so  that  the  total  yield  was  $1,624,145.  Of  this  not  less 
than  $577,493  was  profit.  This  is  a  grand  old  mine.  Since  June 
1890  it  has  yielded  $22,359,934  in  gold,  of  which  $10,438,933 
has  been  profit. 

If  opportunity  offers,  go  into  one  of  the  mills  at  night. 
Then  the  thunderous  power  and  insistent  energy  of  the  stamps 
are  emphasized  by  the  stillness  of  the  sleeping  earth.  Two  rows 
of  electric  lights  illuminate  the  building  brightly;  the  splash  of 
the  water,  the  movements  of  the  mill-men,  even  the  voice  of  a 
speaker  a  few  feet  distant,  are  apparently  soundless,  for  the 
rhythmic  reverberations  of  the  mill  drown  them  completely. 
And  yet  it  seems  a  quiet  place;  the  big  noise  kills  all  the  irri- 
tating little  noises  of  life,  as  small  cares  are  drowned  by  a 
calamity. 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE  MEN  IN  THE  MINES. 

It  is  related  that  some  fool  who  landed  from  a  Seattle 
steamer  was  heard  asking  an  acquaintance  at  Treadwell: 
''Where  are  the  slaughter-pens  and  the  swill  boarding-houses?" 
Somewhere  and  somehow  this  ignoramus  had  got  it  into  his 
head  that  the  workmen  employed  in  the  mine  were  poorly  fed, 
badly  housed,  and  engaged  in  a  dangerous  occupation.  The 
subject  is  interesting. 

To  keep  account  of  the  men  employed,  the  following  system 
has  been  adopted :  Every  man  working  underground  is  given 
a  small  brass  tag,  equal  in  size  to  a  25-cent  piece,  with  a  num- 
ber upon  it.  This  number  is  placed  against  the  man 's  name  in 
the  time-book  kept  by  the  foreman;  when  the  worker  comes 
out  of  the  mine  he  deposits  his  tag  in  a  box;  the  shift-boss  on 
duty  takes  the  tags  and  hangs  them  on  a  series  of  hooks  having 
corresponding  numbers.  These  hooks  with  their  numbers  at- 
tached are  arranged  in  rows  upon  a  board  hanging  in  the  fore- 
man's office.  When  the  last  cage-load  of  men  reaches  the  sur- 
face every  number  on  the  board  should  be  covered  by  a  brass 
check.  If  one  is  missing,  the  shift-boss  and  hoist-crew  are  held 
at  the  shaft  pending  a  search  for  the  holder  of  the  missing  tag ; 
he  may  have  met  with  an  accident  or  failed  to  come  out  of  the 
mine.  Twice  a  Slavonian  was  found  asleep ;  on  other  occasions 
new  hands  have  lost  their  way ;  but  the  most  common  source  of 
trouble  is  the  forgetfulness  of  men  who  walk  off  with  their 
tags.  On  various  occasions  during  the  three  months  preceding 
my  visit  half  a  dozen  workmen  had  been  left  in  the  Alaska 
Treadwell  mine  through  losing  their  way  or  ignorance  of  the 
fact  that  it  was  '  quitting  time. '  These  were  all  new  hands.  If 


38  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

a  man  walks  off  with  his  tag,  a  search  is  made  for  him  at  his 
quarters  or  at  the  boarding-house.  It  is  probable  that  the  men 
detained  at  the  shaft  by  such  stupidity  do,  or  say,  something 
picturesque.  If  a  man  is  guilty  of  this  blunder  twice,  he  is 
'fired.' 

The  management,  in  co-operation  with  the  men,  has  organ- 
ized a  club.  This  is  a  commodious  building  on  the  shore  and 
near  the  boarding-house.  It  includes  a  large  billiard-room,  a 
reading-room,  a  writing-room  (paper  and  envelopes  supplied), 
bowling-alleys,  a  dark  room  for  photography,  a  barber's  shop, 
ordinary  bath-rooms  and  also  a  steam  bath  (towels  and  soap 
provided),  a  small  circulating  library,  and  an  auditorium,  cap- 
able of  seating  500  and  equipped  with  a  stage  and  scenery.  No 
charge -is  made  for  anything  except  barbering,  but  food  and 
drink  are  not  served,  that  being  left  entirely  to  the  boarding- 
house. 

The  administration  of  this  club  is  in  the  hands  of  a  board  of 
directors  elected  by  the  members;  every  employee  must  be  a 
member,  for  each  one  is  docked  $1  per  month  on  the  payroll, 
from  the  manager  to  the  nipper.  The  only  ones  exempt  are 
the  Japanese  and  the  Indians  employed  in  the  mines.  At  pres- 
ent the  membership  totals  1500;  these  elect  21  directors,  who 
choose  a  president,  a  secretary,  and  a  treasurer.  The  last  is 
usually  the  cashier  of  the  Company,  which  originally  provided 
everything  at  a  cost  of  $28,000  and  now  furnishes  water,  heat, 
and  light.  The  debt  of  the  club  has  been  reduced  to  $6000, 
equivalent  to  the  amount  for  which  it  is  insured.  The  profits 
are  devoted  to  betterments  and  entertainments.  In  regard  to 
these,  the  policy  is  to  give  the  men  what  they  want,  such  as 
tin  occasional  prize-fight,  minstrel  shows,  vaudevilles,  amateur 
theatricals.  Three  dramatic  companies  have  been  organized  by 
the  employees  and  their  women  folk.  There  is  a  band  of  25 
pieces,  the  instruments  being  provided  by  the  Club,  and  its 
reputation  resounds  throughout  the  Northwest.  There  is  also 
a  Fire  Brigade  consisting  of  volunteer  firemen  under  a  paid 
chief;  the  men  are  divided  into  six  companies  that  meet  twice 
a  month  at  the  Club  to  transact  business  and  hold  a  discussion, 


ALASKA    PERSEVERANCE   MILL   IX   SILVER   BOW   BASIX. 


40  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

followed  by  an  entertainment,  for  which  the  Company  sup- 
plies the  cigars. 

The  reading-room  has  a  large  array  of  newspapers  and 
magazines.  Any  group  of  five  men  can  ask  for  a  paper ;  for 
instance,  some  Greeks  complaining  that  journals  of  every  na- 
tionality were  on  hand  except  their  own,  a  Greek  paper  was 
ordered.  In  English  there  is  everything  from  The  Spectator  and 
The  Nation  to  The  Commoner  and  the  Christian  Socialist.  Maga- 
zines are  apt  to  be  taken  from  their  covers;  out  of  two  dozen 
fully  half  a  dozen  are  stolen  each  month.  The  Slavonians 
particularly  are  regular  in  removing  the  papers  in  their  own 
language.  Naturally,  such  trash  as  Puck  and  Judge,  Leslie's 
Weekly  and  Harper's  Weekly  are  popular.  The  Nation  and  The 
Spectator  are  supplied  for  the  benefit  of  one  or  two  of  the  more 
thoughtful.  The  first  attempt  to  provide  a  library  ended  in 
the  disappearance  of  the  books.  During  six  months,  when  the 
doors  of  the  library  were  left  open,  60  out  of  250  volumes 
were  purloined,  including  Drinker  on  'Tunneling.'  The  only 
valuable  books  left  were  an  ornamental  Bible  and  a  Webster 
dictionary.  Now  the  books  are  locked  up  and  can  be  obtained 
from  the  janitor  by  means  of  a  signed  card.  At  present  the 
library  contains  600  volumes,  of  which  100  are  in  use  at  any 
time.  Among  the  popular  authors  are  Ralph  Connor,  E.  P.  Roe, 
Mary  J.  Holmes,  Wilkie  Collins,  and  Dickens.  But  Kipling 
is  "not  at  all  popular,"  nor  are  Ruskin  and  Stevenson.  It  is  a 
nice  point  whether  popularity  or  disfavor  be  the  greater  honor. 

A  worker  at  Treadwell  pays  $1  for  the  Club,  $1.50  for 
medical  service,  $2  for  his  bunk,  and  $25  for  his  board.  This 
makes  a  total  deduction  of  $29.50  out  of  an  average  wage  of 
$100  per  month.  The  company's  boarding-houses  are  not  ex- 
pected to  make  money ;  in  fact,  they  ran  $4000  behind  last  year. 
The  men  are  not  under  compulsion  either  to  sleep  in  the  com- 
pany's bunk-house  or  to  get  their  meals  at  the  company's 
boarding-house.  Wages  used  to  be  $2.50,  with  board  and  lodg- 
ing at  $1  per  day ;  now  standard  wages  are  $3.50,  with  bunk 
and  board  at  $27  per  month,  as  already  stated.  When  a  man 
is  entered  on  the  payroll,  he  is  asked  to  state  whether  he  wants 
to  board  down-town  or  with  the  Company.  The  cost  in  the 


42  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

town  is  $1  per  day  for  board,  except -in  the  cheapest  Japanese 
restaurants,  to  which  the  miners  rarely  go. 

In  all  these  matters  it  is  apparent  that  the  management 
recognizes  the  fact  that  the  workers  in  the  mine  are  more  than 
machines,  requiring  care  and  attention,  apart  from  any  hu- 
mane sentiment.  Not  that  such  sentiment  is  lacking.  Both 
the  manager  and  his  assistant  are  educated  kind-hearted  fel- 
lows, whose  duty  and  pleasure  it  is  to  supervise  the  men  under 
their  charge  with  a  proper  mixture  of  sense  and  sentiment. 
Their  policy  is  to  encourage  married  men  to  come  to  Treadwell. 
Married  men  are  more  steady  in  their  habits  and  less  migra- 
tory. To  attract  the  best  class  of  men,  the  Company  has  built 
a  number  of  attractive  cottages  for  the  use  of  such  foremen  and 
shift-bosses  as  are  married,  and  also  for  other  members  of  the 
staff  possessed  of  a  legal  mate.  These  cottages  now  form  a 
prominent  feature  of  the  picture  presented  by  the  settlement 
as  seen  on  an  incoming  steamer.  In  their  red  paint,  with  a 
background  of  green  scrub  and  forest,  they  give  a  touch  of 
pleasant  vividness  to  the  scene.  The  houses  are  better  built 
than  the  average  suburban  cottage  and  they  are  cheerfully 
perched  on  the  slope  overlooking  Gastineau  Channel.  Some 
of  them  have  six  rooms,  including  a  bath-room  and  an  attic,  the 
last  being  used  for  drying  clothes,  a  convenience  necessary  in 
this  damp  climate.  Electric  light,  steam  heat,  and  water  are 
provided,  with  complete  sewerage.  These  houses  cost  $1750 
and  are  rented  for  $12.50  per  month.  The  smaller  houses,  cost- 
ing $1000  to  $1500,  have  four  rooms,  including  kitchen  and 
attic,  but  no  bath-room.  They  rent  for  $10  per  month.  Each 
group  of  houses  has  a  telephone  connecting  with  the  general 
system.  The  tenants  are  allowed  some  say  as  to  the  arrange- 
ment and  details  of  the  houses.  Any  man  wishing  to  get  a 
cottage  applies  at  the  office,  and  when  a  vacancy  occurs  he  has 
the  option  of  renting.  If  a  new  married  foreman  arrives,  it  is 
usual  to  build  a  house  for  him,  rather  than  keep  him  waiting 
for  his  turn.  Last  year  the  Company  spent  $105,000  on  cot- 
tages. Apart  from  the  inadequate  return  on  the  expenditure 
involved,  the  Company  gains  by  being  able  to  retain  its  best 
employees.  Viewed  in  a  broad  way,  it  is  a  good  investment. 


THE  MEN  AND  THE  MINES.  43 

The  miners  work  for  10  hours;  mill-men,  for  12.  Those 
working  underground  come  up  for  their  midday  or  midnight 
meal,  an  hour  being  allowed  for  this  purpose.  They  go  to  work 
at  7  and  quit  at  6.  Nevertheless,  a  large  proportion  of  the  force 
works  on  an  8-hour  shift,  especially  where  continuous  labor  is 
necessary,  as  among  those  attending  on  the  hoists,  cages,  crush- 
ers, trams,  and  chutes.  In  the  mines  it  is  impossible  for  one 
shift  to  relieve  another  immediately  on  account  of  the  gas 
liberated  from  the  large  amount  of  explosives  used  in  breaking 
the  ore. 

The  force  employed  in  the  mines  and  mills  is  both  heteroge- 
neous and  polyglot.  An  effort  is  made  to  adjust  the  ratio  of 
races  so  as  to  have  more  than  half  English-speaking,  dividing 
the  remainder  between  Scandinavians  and  Slavonians,  that 
is,  between  the  peoples  of  northern  and  southern  Europe. 
Those  labeled  Slavonian  include  Montenegrins,  Rumanians, 
Albanians,  Dalmatians,  Herzegovenians,  Croatians,  in  fact,  all 
the  immigrants  from  southeastern  Europe,  including  the  north- 
ern borders  of  Turkey.  The  least  literate  are  the  Montenegrins ; 
they  are  big  men  but  lazy  and  stupid.  An  effort  is  being  made 
to  get  more  Italians,  especially  Piedmontese,  who  come  from 
the  Val  D'Aosta  and  the  French-Italian  border.  They  are 
splendid  miners. 

The  Indians  native  to  the  district  make  good  workmen. 
They  belong  to  the  Thlingit  nation,  inhabiting  southeastern 
Alaska  from  Ketchikan  to  the  Copper  river.  In  the  big  open- 
cut  or  pit  only  Indians  are  employed,  because  they  can  keep 
steady  while  perched  on  narrow  benches  overlooking  the  caver- 
nous hole.  They  work  by  day  only.  All  the  young  Indians 
speak  English  well.  They  get  instruction  at  the  Silkoh  mission 
and  the  schools  for  natives  established  by  the  American  govern- 
ment 20  years  ago.  In  the  Treadwell  mine  from  60  to  80  of 
them  are  employed.  They  are  mostly  machine-men,  that  is, 
operating  the  air-drills ;  they  work  steadily  all  the  year  round, 
and  receive  the  regular  wages,  $3.50  per  shift. 

All  the  employees  in  the  boarding-house  are  Japanese,  except 
the  head  steward  and  his  assistant.  The  dining  room  is  a  clean 
and  cheerful  place,  with  long  tables  covered  with  white  oil- 


44  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

cloth.  Imitation  palms  serve  as  a  graceful  decoration.  The 
kitchen  is  a  model  of  its  kind.  Dish-washing  is  done  mechan- 
ically by  a  conveyor  traveling  in  water  that  is  heated  by  live 
steam  to  a  temperature  ensuring  sterilization.  A  cold-storage 
room  is  provided.  I  saw  the  pies  and  bread  prepared  for  the 
coming  meal;  they  were  as  excellent  as  those  obtainable  in  a 
good  hotel.  Flies  are  not  a  nuisance,  owing  to  the  coldness  of 
the  climate. 

Cleanliness  and  despatch  characterize  the  boarding-house 
system.  Both  are  needed  in  providing  for  1200  hungry  men. 
By  erecting  the  buildings  over  tide-water  there  is  no  trouble  in 
getting  rid  of  refuse ;  and  in  this  the  flocks  of  seagulls  play  a 
useful  part.  While  the  Treadwell  boarding-house  has  been 
considered  a  model  of  its  kind,  the  new  establishment  for  the 
Mexican  and  Ready  Bullion  mines  includes  several  improve- 
ments, mainly  mechanical,  such  as  a  Garis-Cochrane  dish-wash- 
ing machine,  a  patent  vegetable  steamer,  roll-warmers,  plate- 
warmers,  steam-jacketed  stock  kettles,  vegetable-peelers,  power- 
driven  ice-cream  freezers,  and  many  other  kitchen  conveniences 
such  as  are  found  in  modern  hotels.  Tea  and  coffee  are  made 
in  copper  urns  by  the  wholesome  method  of  percolation,  so  that 
the  vile  hard-boiled  decoctions  of  the  average  mining  settle- 
ment do  not  poison  the  good  food.  As  an  example  of  the  variety 
of  dishes  served  in  these  boarding  houses,  I  quote,  on  the  oppo- 
site page,  the  menu  on  the  day  of  my  inspection  and  the  day 
previous. 

Sherbet  or  ice  cream  is  served  once  a  week ;  green  onions, 
lettuce,  radishes,  and  oranges  are  provided  at  frequent 
intervals. 

The  bunk-houses  are  of  two  types.  In  one  there  is  a  corri- 
dor running  the  length  of  the  building  and  into  it  two  rows  of 
rooms  open,  the  general  entrance  being  through  a  central  door 
with  a  transverse  passage.  This  form  of  construction  is  objec- 
tionable on  account  of  the  noise;  the  men  loiter  in  the  corridor; 
when  going  to  and  fro  they  disturb  those  who  are  sleeping.  It 
is  not  practicable  to  restrict  a  house  to  men  on  the  same  shift, 
as  there  are  frequent  changes  from  one  shift  to  another.  The 
new  bunk-houses  are  made  so  that  the  rooms  are  back  to  back, 


THE  MEN  AND  THE  MINES.  45 

SAMPLE   BILL,   OF   FARE   AT  BOARDING   HOUSE. 
June  26,  19O8. 

BREAKFAST.  NOON    LUNCH. 

Rolled  Oats  and  Milk.  Oyster  Soup. 

Beef  Steak.  Onions.  Boiled  Mutton.       Pickle  Sauce. 

Corned  Beef  Hash.  Frankfurter  Sausage. 

Boiled  Potatoes.  Cod  Fish  Balls. 

Eggs.  Mashed  Potatoes.      Sauerkraut. 
Hot  Rolls.          Flannel  Cakes.  Green  Peas. 

Bread  and  Butter.  Rhubarb  Pie. 

Honey.     Syrup.     Coffee.     Milk.  Tea. 


Baked  King  Salmon 

Roast  Beef. 
Baked  Potatoes. 

Sugar  Corn.  Boiled  Beans. 

Bread  Pudding.  Fresh  Strawberries. 

Cake  and  Tea. 


June  27,  1908. 

BREAKFAST.  NOON    LUNCH. 

Germea  Mush.      Milk.  Vegetable    Soup. 

Beef  Steak.           Pork  Sausage.  Roast  Beef.            Brown  Gravy. 

Fried  Potatoes.  Corned  Beef  and  Cabbage. 

Hot  Cakes.        Hot  Corn  Bread.  Mashed  Potatoes. 

Bread.       Butter.  String  Beans.                Tomatoes. 

Honey.                        Syrup.  Stewed  Prunes  and  Rice. 

Coffee  and  Milk.  Pie.       Tea. 

DINNER. 

Boiled  Beef.  Horseradish. 

Ox  Tongue. 

French  Fried  Potatoes.  Lima  Beans. 

Lettuce  Salad.          Canned  Peaches. 

Cake  and  Tea. 


46  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

each  opening  outdoors  and  with  no  hall-way  of  any  kind,  so 
that  they  are  like  elementary  semi-detached  residences. 

This  industrial  community  on  Douglas  island  is  a  queer 
medley  of  races,  creeds,  and  languages.  The  Slavonians  and 
most  of  the  common  people  of  southeastern  Europe  when  they 
arrive  in  America  are  polite  to  the  point  of  servility,  they  doff 
their  hats  and  scrape  the  floor  with  their  heavy  feet ;  soon  they 
learn  to  keep  their  hats  on  their  heads,  often  with  a  truculent 
slant,  which  is  in  strong  contrast  to  the  spiritless  attitude 
assumed  in  their  former  habitat,  where,  in  the  presence  of  an 
employer,  they  have  an  air  as  if  to  say :  "Excuse  me  for  living.'' 
They  easily  get  grouches  and  hatreds  among  themselves  and 
their  standard  of  fair  play  permits  curious  expression.  A  Sla- 
vonian will  think  nothing  of  getting  behind  a  dump  and  throw- 
ing a  'rock'  at  another  man.  They  rarely  become  naturalized 
citizens  and  they  acquire  the  English  language  painfully.  Out 
of  600  Slavonians  only  4  or  5  are  naturalized ;  they  herd  to- 
gether, like  the  Chinese.  When  one  of  them  has  saved  $500  to 
$1000,  he  returns  to  his  native  land  and  spends  his  money  there  ; 
in  four  or  five  years  he  comes  back  and  begins  to  accumulate 
once  more.  The  Montenegrins  claim  to  be  warriors ;  they  cer- 
tainly are  not  workers,  for  they  are  accustomed  to  having  the 
manual  labor  performed  by  their  women.  Xo  Hindoos  are 
employed  at  Treadwell ;  they  offered,  but  were  refused,  because 
of  possible  complications  with  the  other  races.  Certainly,  it  is 
a  queer  olla  podrida  of  nationalities  and  yet  in  time,  and  in  a 
comparatively  short  time,  these  diverse  racial  ingredients  will 
be  fused  in  the  melting  pot  of  American  life  and  out  of  it  will 
come  a  product  as  unlike  the  original  material  as  the  bullion 
that  is  obtained  from  the  crude  ore  placed  in  the  assayer's 
crucible.  It  will  not  be  refined  bullion  and  it  is  not  ready  for 
the  best  uses,  but  it  is  a  product  of  definite  value. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  GLACIERS  OF  ALASKA. 

Most  of  the  tourists  who  travel  in  Alaska  go  to  Ketchikan, 
Juneau,  and  Sitka ;  they  are  shown  the  Muir  glacier ;  they  call 
at  Skagway,  and,  if  the  weather  permit,  they  are  taken  in  an 
excursion  train  to  the  summit  of  the  White  Pass,  where  they 
get  a  glimpse  of  the  'inside' — that  vast  hinterland  whence 
comes  the  gold  that  has  enticed  civilization  to  transgress  the 
Arctic  Circle.  In  the  southeastern  portion  of  Alaska  the  tourist 
sees  many  glaciers;  the  indented  coast  is  everywhere  guarded 
by  the  protruding  snout  of  a  leviathan  body  of  creeping  ice; 
every  river  issues  from  the  blue  grottoes  under  the  ice-fields, 
every  avenue  through  the  coast  range  appears  to  be  filled  by 
vast  glacial  stretches  that  block  access  to  the  other  side.  Thus 
the  general  idea  of  Alaska,  as  seen  from  the  Portland  Canal 
to  Skagway,  and  from  Haines  Mission  to  Seward,  is  of  a  region 
invaded  by  glaciers,  leaving  a  few  picturesque  islands  and  a 
narrow  strip  of  shore  on  which  Indians  and  white  men  gain 
a  precarious  livelihood  by  fishing  and  mining. 

This  impression  is  wrong.  The  glacier-infested  portion  of 
Alaska  is  only  the  southeastern  coast;  the  far  western  shores 
of  the  Seward  Peninsula  are  free  from  perpetual  ice-fields,  and 
once  the  traveler  crosses  the  coast  range,  in  going  to  Dawson 
from  Skagway,  or  to  Fairbanks  from  Valdez,  he  is  in  a  region 
devoid  of  glaciers.  Between  latitude  56  and  61°  north,  for  a 
distance  of  500  miles  and  a  width  of  100  miles,  the  ice-fields 
prevail.  North  of  61°  glaciers  are  less  prominent  as  far  as 
63°,  and  still  farther  north  they  do  not  exist.  The  reason  for 
this  distribution  is  simple.  The  clouds  rising  from  the  Pacific 
are  blown  eastward  against  the  coast  range,  and  when  they 


48  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

strike  the  snowclad  summits  their  moisture  is  condensed  and 
precipitated  in  the  form  of  snow.  This  snow  feeds  the  glaciers 
near  the  coast.  On  the  other  hand,  within  the  interior  of  the 
country  the  altitude  is  low,  ranging  from  1000  to  1200  ft.,  there 
are  no  lofty  mountain  ranges,  and  the  climate  is  particularly 
dry,  so  that  the  snow-fall  is  slight.  Speaking  broadly,  the 
coast  province  of  Alaska  is  mountainous,  misty,  and  ice-bound, 
while  the  interior  province  is  undulating,  arid,  and  sunny. 

Alaska  covers  an  area  of  nearly  600,000  square  miles,  and 
of  this  total  only  43,710  square  miles  appertains  to  the  part 
known  as  Southeastern  Alaska,  the  province  usually  assumed 
by  tourists  to  be  Alaska.  The  Cordillera  or  main  mountain 
system  of  North  America  follows  the  Alaskan  coast  as  far  as 
Cook  inlet  and  then  forms  the  backbone  of  the  Aleutian  islands, 
sweeping  westward  in  a  broad  crescent  from  the  British 
Columbia  boundary  far  out  into  the  Pacific  Ocean.  On  the 
northern  side  of  this  curved  backbone  is  a  region  distinct  in 
its  climatic  conditions.  The  mists  of  the  coast  do  not  penetrate 
the  dry  sunny  atmosphere  on  the  northern  watershed;  the 
short  summer  is  intensely  invigorating;  the  long  winter  is  crisp 
and  cold,  but  also  marked  by  clear  weather.  The  low  moun- 
tain ranges  rarely  reach  an  altitude  of  5000  ft.,  while  the  big 
Cordillera  attains  such  heights  as  17,500  and  20,464  ft.  The 
slope  of  the  vast  hinterland  is  westward  and  it  is  drained  by 
the  great  Yukon  river,  which  flows  through  the  very  heart  of 
it  for  a  length  of  2300  miles,  emptying  into  Bering  Sea.  There 
the  coast  is  low  and  marshy,  with  long  beaches  surmounted 
by  the  tundra.  For  eight  months  Bering  Sea  is  ice-bound  and 
the  fog  sweeps  over  the  lowlands  of  the  coast.  This  is  also 
true,  in  lesser  degree,  of  that  part  of  Alaska  nearest  the  States. 
While  the  scenery  of  the  inland  sea  between  Seattle  and  Juneau 
is  lovely  in  the  extreme,  it  is  fair  to  say  that  appreciation  is 
never  dulled  by  seeing  too  much  of  it ;  clear  days  are  infre- 
quent ;  the  traveler  enjoys  a  day  of  rare  loveliness  and  then 
is  granted  a  couple  of  days  of  veiled  modesty  during  which 
the  rriist  hides  the  landscape  so  as  to  sharpen  his  desire  for  the 
uncovering  when  Nature  is  again  in  a  complacent  mood. 

On  June  24  Mr.  Robert  A.  Kinxie  took  us  to  see  the  Taku 


THE  GLACIERS  OF  ALASKA. 


49 


glacier.  We  left  Treadwell  on  the  morning  of  a  day  so  misty 
as  to  be  on  the  verge  of  rain.  The  tops  of  the  hills  were 
shrouded.  Passing  down  Gastineau  Channel  we  saw  the  string 
of  cottages,  offices,  mills,  and  shaft-houses  that  mark  the 
activities  of  the  Alaska  Treadwell,  Alaska  Mexican,  and  Alaska 
United  mining  companies,  all  of  which  exploit  the  same  lode 
and  are  under  the  same  technical  direction.  At  the  southern 
end  of  the  settlement  a  large  open-cut  near  the  shore,  and 
pointing  under  the  Channel,  suggested  the  fact  that  the  work- 
ings of  the  Ready  Bullion  mine  (belonging  to  the  Alaska 


TREADWELL,    ALASKA. 

United  Co.)  reach  1500  feet  under  the  water.  These  workings 
are  not  allowed  to  come  nearer  than  300  feet  from  the  surface 
of  the  rock,  the  intervening  'sea  pillar'  being  left  to  protect 
the  mine  from  flooding.  The  little  railroad  between  the  mines 
and  the  wharf  can  be  seen  edging  the  shore  and  passing  over 
trestles  until  it  ends  at  a  group  of  cabins  occupied  by  the  In- 
dian employees.  They  are  charged  a  rent  of  $1  per  month,  but 
this  they  evade  by  quitting  just  before  the  month  expires.  Two 
or  three  families  will  pile  into  a  single  cabin  and  the  Company 
is  not  particular  about  exacting  its  rental.  As  the  launch 


50  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

glided  southward  we  saw  Sheep  creek  on  the  left,  with  an 
old  sawmill  and  concentrator,  to  remind  us  of  past  mining 
schemes  and  of  present  litigation  in  New  York.  On  the  right, 
a  tramway  terminating  at  the  shore  indicated  a  mine  on  Ne- 
vada creek,  but  the  forest  had  overgrown  the  tramway,  as  time 
had  hidden  the  memory  of  an  abandoned  enterprise. 

Passing  the  southerly  extremity  of  Douglas  island  we 
turned  into  Taku  inlet,  skirting  the  mainland  on  the  east  so 
that  wre  could  see  a  small  Indian  village  and  its  neighboring 
cemetery.  Old  graves  are  scattered  in  the  brush  close  to  the 
water;  they  are  queer  little  structures  like  dog-kennels  or  doll- 
houses  with  picture-writing  preserving  the  heraldic  record  of 
the  incumbent.  White  and  red  paint  gives  this  graveyard  a 
chromatic  gaiety,  in  contrast  to  the  dark  forest  of  spruce  and 
the  sombre  canopy  of  mist.  No  totem-poles  are  visible.  The 
natives  do  not  bury  their  dead,  but  wrap  them  in  their  blankets, 
with  their  trinkets  and  weapons ;  thus  equipped  the  body  is 
laid  in  a  box  and  a  little  house  is  built  above  it.  The  ground 
is  rocky  and  digging  is  difficult,  hence  the  custom. 

This  village  is  mentioned  by  Vancouver,  who  gave  the  name 
of  Point  Bishop  to  the  adjacent  cape.  Rounding  the  point,  we 
saw  the  first  ice-berg  moving  down  the  Taku  inlet,  \vhich  is 
three  miles  wide.  The  mist  had  lifted,  the  light  played  on  the 
floating  ice,  which  shone  white  as  sugar  where  vesicular,  and 
a  vivid  blue  where  clear,  both  colors  being  doubled  by  reflec- 
tion in  the  smooth  waters  of  the  estuary.  It  was  now  nearly 
noon  and  the  fog  had  risen,  uncovering  snowy  summits,  grand 
mountains,  and  wooded  slopes  threaded  by  waterfalls.  The 
air  was  still  and  the  water  smooth,  we  heard  the  call  of  the 
cataracts  and  the  boom  of  the  glacier;  the  clouds,  the  vivid 
green  of  the  shore,  and  the  dark  woods  were  all  reflected  in 
the  mirror  over  which  we  glided  with  tremulous  speed.  Many 
small  bergs  drifted  past.  The  sunlight  broke  through  the 
clouds  and  bathed  the  peaks  and  snowfields  in  matchless  splen- 
dor. Soon  we  passed  the  snout  of  a  dead  glacier — the  Windom. 
This  is  soiled  by  the  dirt  of  the  moraine  and  is  but  little  cre- 
vassed.  Turning  the  next  point  we  faced  the  front  of  the 
great  Taku  glacier.  We  approached  as  close  as  possible,  but 


THE  GLACIERS  OF  ALASKA. 


51 


no  nearer  than  !V->  miles,  for  the  ice-bergs  broken  from  the 
front  of  the  glacier  made  navigation  dangerous  to  our  small 
craft.  The  engine  was  stopped.  As  the  movement  of  the  screw 
ceased,  the  silence  intensified  the  beauty  of  the  scene. 

The  front  of  the  glacier  spreads  forward  from  a  valley  en- 
closed by  high  rocky  slopes;  looking  into  this  valley  we  see 
that  it  issues  from  a  vast  amphitheatre  in  the  high  ranges, 
whence  the  river  of  ice  can  be  traced  to  its  source  among  the 
snow-fields  half-hidden  in  the  rising  mists. 


THE  TAKU  GLACIER. 

What  is  a  glacier? 

A  glacier  is  an  ice  river.  The  rate  of  movement  depends 
upon  the  slope  of  its  bed,  the  volume  of  ice,  and  the  momentum 
resulting.  Like  a  river,  the  movement  is  most  rapid  in  the 
centre  and  at  the  top ;  this  is  due  to  the  retarding  effect  of 
friction  on  the  sides  and  bottom.  Glacial  ice  is  compressed 
snow  and  is  formed  wherever  the  snow-fall  is  so  excessive  as 
to  cause  compression  to  a  viscous  condition,  permitting  flow  to 
a  lower  level.  This  condition  is  explained  by  the  fact  that 


52  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

water  at  the  freezing  point  is  transformed,  under  varying 
pressure,  from  the  solid  to  the  liquid  state.  Although  brittle 
as  glass  and  inelastic  as  granite,  ice  fuses  at  32°  F.  under  the 
atmospheric  pressure  of  15  pounds  per  square  inch ;  if  the 
pressure  be  increased,  the  fusion  point  is  lowered,  that  is,  the 
water  will  not  freeze  at  32°  F.,  but  will  assume  a  liquid  state. 
In  a  glacier  the  ice  is  subject  to  alternations  of  pressure  caus- 
ing transformation  of  the  compacted  snow  from  a  solid  to  a 
liquid  condition  so  that  it  acquires  a  viscous  flow.  Owing  to 
the  tension  due  to  motion  over  an  irregular  rocky  surface,  the 
ice  cracks,  forming  those  fissures  called  'crevasses.'  As  the 
glacier  descends  a  valley  the  slopes  on  either  side  shed  their 
debris  upon  the  stream  of  ice.  This  debris  may  have  been 
loosened  by  frost,  rain,  or  snowslides ;  however  formed,  it  rolls 
onto  the  edge  of  the  glacier  and  creates  a  fringe,  called  a 
lateral  'moraine.'  In  describing  glaciers  the  terms  used  are 
of  French  derivation  because  they  originated  in  the  western 
portion  of  Switzerland  where  French  is  spoken.  When  two 
ice  streams  meet,  the  inner  lateral  moraines  unite  and  thus  a 
medial  moraine  results.  All  the  debris  borne  upon  the  ad- 
vancing glacier  is  deposited  at  its  front  as  the  ice  either  melts 
or  breaks  away  and  the  pile  of  rock  thus  formed  is  called  a 
terminal  moraine.  While  rock  material  is  thus  carried  on  the 
top  of  the  ice  stream,  the  glacier  also  moves  gravel  and  boul- 
ders along  its  bed.  Some  of  these  fragments  of  rock  are  em- 
bedded in  the  ice  as  it  advances  and  scratch  the  rock  surface. 
Thus  striations  are  made  by  the  small  pieces,  and  grooves  by 
the  large  ones.  These  are  parallel  to  each  other,  and  indicate 
the  line  of  motion.  When  glaciers  recede  or  become  extinct, 
by  diminution  of  the  snow-fall  and  change  of  climate,  these 
marks  on  the  worn  surface  of  the  rock  will  survive  and  testify 
to  the  agency  that  made  them.  They  are  the  evidence  of  vio- 
lent friction  and  powerful  erosion;  their  formation  is  accom- 
panied by  attrition  resulting  in  rock  dust,  which,  mingling 
with  the  water  running  under  the  ice  makes  the  muddy  stream 
that  issues  at  the  front  of  every  glacier. 

A   glacier  is  regarded   as  having  two  parts,   known   respec- 
tively as  the  'accumulator'  and  the  'dissipator.'     These  two 


THE  GLACIERS  OF  ALASKA. 


53 


parts  are  separated  by  the  'snow-line,'  above  which  the  stream 
of  ice  is  being  constantly  fed,  while  below  the  snow-line  the 
stream  moves  ahead  but  never  diminishes.  In  winter  this 
dead  line  dividing  the  two  stages  of  glacier  existence  is  nearer 
the  front  and  in  summer  it  is  nearer  the  head,  but  it  always 
marks  the  critical  stage  of  development.  Let  us  apply  these 
definitions :  A  fall  of  snow  mantles  the  accumulator  and  be- 
gins to  move  down-stream  until  its  lower  edge  crosses  the 
dead  line,  where  it  melts  and  is  dissipated.  The  upper  edge 
of  this  snow-fall  is  buried  by  later  snow-falls  before  it  reaches 


ANOTHER  VIEW   OF  THE   TAKU  GLACIER. 

the  dead  line  and  by  that  time  the  original  snow  is  deep  down 
in  the  body  of  the  glacier.  The  rocks  that  fall  upon  the  margin 
at  the  extreme  head  of  the  ice  river  also  pass  downward,  to 
emerge  only  at  the  extreme  foot,  while  those  that  drop  upon  the 
ice  near  the  dead-line  appear  the  more  quickly  and  contribute 
to  the  lateral  moraines.  Indeed,  this  new  conception,  first 
suggested  by  Harry  Fielding  Reid,  modifies  our  old  views  of 
moraines  as  well  as  our  ideas  of  ice  accumulation  and  motion. 

During  a  geologic  period  immediately  preceding  the  advent 
of  man,  portions  of  the  earth  were  covered  with  vast  sheets 
of  ice,  as  the  Arctic  region  is  today.  At  one  time  it  was  sup- 


54  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

posed  that  one  continuous  ice-sheet  reached  southward  from 
the  North  Pole,  over  northern  Europe  and  northern  America, 
but  later  scientific  investigation  proves  that  this  was  not  the 
case.  The  ice-sheet  did  not  cover  the  whole  of  the  North,  it 
was  disconnected  from  the  Polar  cap,  and  existed  in  the  form 
of  great  blankets,  which,  in  North  America,  had  three  main 
centres  of  dispersion,  namely,  Labrador,  Athabasca  (in  north- 
western Canada),  and  the  Cordillera,  which  includes  the  ranges 
now  known  as  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Cascades.  The 
ice  moved  not  only  southward  but  also  northward  from  a  gen- 
eral centre  around  Hudson's  Bay.  The  fringes  of  these  ice- 
sheets  terminated  in  numerous  glaciers  that  reached  as  far 
south  as  New  York,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Dakota,  Montana, 
and  British  Columbia.  A  broad  belt  across  North  America 
was  thus  buried,  except  where  the  mountain  peaks  held  their 
heads  above  the  blanket  of  ice,  which  was  2000  to  2500  feet 
thick  on  the  level  and  even  a  mile  thick  in  the  deep  valleys. 
When  the  climate  became  milder  the  ice-sheet  retreated,  that 
is,  its  front,  in  every  direction,  melted  faster  than  it  was  fed, 
until  only  relatively  small  and  local  portions  survived  in  the 
form  of  glaciers  such  as  we  see  today.  The  formation  of  this 
vast  body  of  ice  was  due  in  a  general  way  to  a  period  of  ex- 
cessive cold,  but  the  distribution  of  it  was  determined  by  the 
prevalence  of  moisture  in  the  atmosphere  as  modified  on  the 
one  hand  by  ocean  currents  and  on  the  other  by  the  configura- 
tion of  the  land.  Thus,  the  warm  moist  air  of  the  North  Pa- 
cific is  arrested  and  cooled  by  the  coast  ranges  so  as  to  compel 
a  precipitation  of  the  snow  from  which  an  ice-sheet  derives 
its  origin. 

Alaska  was  not  buried  under  the  ice  blanket,  the  northern 
limits  of  which  reached  only  as  far  as  the  seaward  slope  of  the 
coast  range.  While,  therefore,  southeastern  Alaska,  the  region 
now  distinguished  by  glaciers,  was  under  the  Cordilleran  ice- 
sheet,  on  the  other  hand,  the  interior,  constituting  the  main- 
land portion  of  the  country,  escaped  cold  storage,  save  where 
Pleistocene  glaciers  existed  in  the  high  mountains.  Then,  as 
now,  the  interior  was  comparatively  arid;  the  moisture  blown 
from  the  ocean  being  arrested  near  the  coast,  and  there  was  no 


THE   EAGLE  RIVER   GLACIER.   NEAR  JUNEAU. 
Photograph   by  Winter  &  Pond,   Juneau.  Published  by  permission. 


56  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

piling  of  snow  adequate  to  form  a  persistent  ice-sheet.  Then,  as 
now,  southeastern  Alaska  was  the  land  of  snow  and  ice.  Owing 
to  the  cold  climate,  the  moist  air  moving  with  the  Japanese 
current,  and  the  high  ranges  fronting  the  coast,  this  part  of 
America  is  still  pervaded  with  ice,  in  the  form  of  glaciers. 
Between  Juneau  and  Skagway  there  are  20  glaciers  in  sight 
of  those  on  board  the  passing  steamer.  In  Taku  inlet  there  are 
fully  a  dozen  of  them  in  a  distance  of  20  miles.  Taking  the 
entire  sweep  of  the  Alaskan  coast  from  the  British  Columbia 
border  to  the  first  of  the  Aleutian  islands  there  are  fully  5000 
glaciers,  that  is,  there  are  a  number  of  immense  ice-fields  de- 
bouching as  numberless  glaciers  of  varying  size.  This  fact 
escaped  early  explorers,  although  Vancouver  was  not  blind  to 
it.  Even  the  Muir  glacier,  in  Glacier  bay,  wilich  is  now  an 
object  of  interest  to  a  host  of  tourists  every  summer,  was  not 
described  until  1879,  when  John  Muir  and  S.  H.  Young  made 
an  investigation  followed  by  a  scientific  report.  From  a  later 
survey  made  in  1886  by  a  party  headed  by  G.  F.  Wright,  it 
was  ascertained  that  the  Muir  glacier  is  "a  stream  of  ice  5000 
feet  wide  and  1000  feet  deep,  entering  the  inlet  at  an  average 
rate  of  40  feet  per  day."  At  that  time  the  front  rose  250  to 
300  feet  above  the  water  and  the  central  portion  of  it  was 
said  to  be  advancing  at  the  rate  of  65  to  70  feet  per  day.  This 
in  itself  is  not  incredible,  because  the  Augpadlartok  glacier 
in  Greenland  has  been  known  to  advance  100  feet  in  24  hours, 
but  there  are  good  reasons  for  doubting  the  accuracy  of 
Wright's  surveys.  In  1890  H.  F.  Reid  found  the  ice-front  130 
to  210  feet  high,  and  the  depth  of  water  720  feet,  so  that  the 
total  thickness  of  the  ice  was  900  feet.  Excluding  the  wings 
of  the  glacier,  it  had  then  a  breadth  of  9200  feet,  or  ten  times 
as  much  as  its  depth — a  relation  prompting  Reid  to  observe 
that  "rivers  are  generally  much  broader  than  this  in  com- 
parison to  their  depth."  This  careful  observer  found  a  velo- 
city of  7  feet  per  day ;  therefore,  while  it  is  probable  that 
in  1886  the  Muir  glacier  was  moving  more  rapidly  than  in 
1890,  there  is  good  reason  for  believing  that  Wright  made  a 
serious  error,  the  real  advance  being  at  most  from  8  to  10  feet 
per  day.  But  it  is  melting  faster  than  it  is  advancing.  The 


THE  GLACIERS  OF  ALASKA. 


57 


loss  of  ice  by  melting  of  the  surface  is  at  the  rate  of  15  feet 
per  annum.  Between  1880  and  1890  measurements  proved  a 
recession  of  250  yards  per  annum ;  the  glacier  being  fed  from 
a  source  that  no  longer  supplies  ice  as  heretofore. 

The  retreat  of  the  glaciers  in  Alaska  began  150  years  ago; 
at  that  time  the  Muir  had  "a  magnificent  front,  6  or  8  miles 
across,  though  its  height  was  probably  not  much  over  300  feet. 
Large  bergs  must  have  broken  off  in  great  numbers  and  made 
Cross  Sound  difficult  to  navigate,  which  accords  with  Van- 


ON  TAKU  INLET. 

couver's  report."  This  retreat  is  still  in  progress,  the  glaciers 
dwindling  while  the  inlets  enlarge.  From  Vancouver's  notes, 
made  115  years  ago,  it  is  inferred  that  the  front  was  fully  25 
miles  farther  south,  that  is,  near  the  entrance  of  the  bay  into 
which  the  excursion  steamers  now  make  their  voyages  de 
curiosite. 

But  all  the  glaciers  of  Alaska  are  not  receding.  The  Brady 
has  advanced  since  Vancouver  saw  it.  In  September  1899  the 
whole  front  of  the  Muir  glacier,  for  five  miles  back,  was  broken 
by  an  earthquake.  This  earthquake  started  the  Malaspina  to 


58  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

life;  the  latter  has  advanced  since  then,  crushing  the  trees 
that  had  grown  up  since  its  previous  retreat.  Eecessions  and 
processions  of  glaciers  are  due  to  local  climatic  changes  and  to 
geologic  disturbances;  as  long  as  the  supply  of  down-coming 
ice  at  the  back  is  more  than  equal  to  the  thaw  and  disrup- 
tion at  the  front,  the  glacier  gains ;  when  the  supply  diminishes, 
the  glacier  shrinks. 

The  earthquake  that  shattered  the  Muir  glacier  was  felt  in 
Juneau.  For  eight  years  the  floating  masses  of  ice  blocked 
Glacier  bay  for  a  distance  of  14  to  18  miles,  preventing  any 
close  approach.  At  the  same  time  serious  damage  was  done  in 
Yakutat  bay  and  even  farther  west.  In  Disenchantment  bay 
the  beach  was  raised  40  feet. 

The  face  of  the  Muir  glacier  is  now  160  to  180  feet  high ; 
this  means  about  1000  feet  of  ice  below  water-level,  for  the  front 
of  the  glacier  is  floating,  and  when  afloat  there  is  nearly  nine 
times  as  much  ice  under  water  as  there  is  above.  The  density 
of  ice  is  0.92,  while  the  mean  density  of  sea-water  is  1.02. 
Owing  to  the  air  imprisoned  in  glacier  ice,  the  bergs  lie  with 
one-seventh  of  their  mass  above  the  water.  The  face  of  the 
Taku  glacier  at  high  water  is  140  to  160  feet  high,  plus  the 
difference  of  the  tide,  namely  24  feet,  so  that  as  much  as  184 
feet  is  exposed  at  low  water.  This  indicates  that  the  bottom 
of  the  ice-front  is  grounded.  The  manner  in  which  the  ice 
breaks  also  indicates  this  fact,  for  the  blocks  tip  forward,  per- 
mitting the  more  rapid  movement  near  the  surface  of  the 
glacier  to  gain  on  the  slow  advance  on  the  bottom,  so  that  as 
the  ice  cracks  the  big  bergs  tumble  forward  with  a  terrific- 
smash.  At  the  time  of  the  high  tides,  as  the  flood  advances,  the 
air  and  water  are  forced  under  the  ice ;  then  the  glacier  splits, 
crevasses  are  formed,  and  bergs  are  detached. 

In  many  cases  the  front  of  the  glacier  at  water-level  is 
hollowed  so  that  the  ice  is  undermined  until  a  crack  is  formed. 
The  water  near  its  surface  is  from  38  to  40°  F.  and  melts  the 
ice.  When  a  mass  breaks  off  in  front  there  is  a  sound  as  of  a 
cannonade,  and  since  these  movements  take  place  in  localities 
undisturbed  by  human  industry  the  noise  is  tremendous.  It 
has  been  supposed  that  the  explosive  violence  associated  with 


THE  GLACIERS  OF  ALASKA. 


59 


the  detachment  of  bergs  from  the  glacier  was  due  to  the  sud- 
den release  of  air  imprisoned  in  a  vesicular  condition  in  the 
ice;  but  this  pretty  theory  is  inconsistent  with  the  facts  of 
later  scientific  observation.  The  thunderous  salute  of  the 
glacier  is  simply  caused  by  the  cracking  of  the  ice.  When 
freshly  broken  the  surface  is  blue ;  after  exposure  it  becomes 
white,  because  the  ice  is  composed  of  interlocking  crystals, 


THE    FACE   OF    THE    GLACIER. 

which  refract  and  reflect  the  sunlight  at  the  intersections. 
Owing  to  melting  at  the  junctions  of  crystals  their  partings  be- 
come visible,  producing  a  heterogeneous  surface,  which  breaks 
up  the  light,  as  snow  does. 

The  bergs  like  stately  argosies  go  seaward;  they  are  not 
wasted.  Some  of  them  serve  to  cool  the  throat  of  the  thirsty 
and  perform  other  similar  beneficent  functions.  The  local  fisher- 
men catch  them ;  in  fact,  they  may  be  said  to  lassoo  them.  Su.ch 


60  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

ice  is  worth  a  cent  per  pound.  At  Treadwell  any  berg  that 
comes  in  sight  is  promptly  arrested  and  put  in  storage  for 
use  in  the  compressor.  Every  lowering  of  temperature  5°  F. 
means  1%  saving  in  efficiency.  As  the  compressor  develops 
800  horse-power,  3%  means  24  horse-power,  at  $50  per  annum 
per  horse-power.  The  trade  in  ice  was  an  important  item  more 
than  fifty  years  ago.  In  1851  a  group  of  men  at  San  Francisco 
contracted  for  250  tons  of  ice  to  be  shipped  from  Sitka  at  $75 
per  ton.  In  October  of  the  following  year  the  price  was  re- 
duced to  $35  and  a  new  contract  was  made  for  1000  tons  an- 
nually for  three  years.  Between  1852  and  1859,  13,960  tons 
were  shipped  from  Sitka  and  7403  tons  from  Kadiak. 

Ked  patches  on  the  glacier  are  due  to  the  same  cause  as  the 
red  snow,  which  has  astonished  people  in  other  regions.  The 
discoloration  is  due  to  the  presence  of  a  minute  and  low  form 
of  vegetable  life,  the  protococcus  nival  is. 

The  Taku  glacier  is  moving  at  about  the  same  rate  as  the 
Muir ;  the  front  of  it,  nearly  200  feet  high  and  a  mile  wide,  is 
cleft  by  numberless  cracks ;  these  traverse  the  coiled  mass  of 
ice  and  give  it  a  serrated  outline.  The  steep  shore  on  either 
side  has  been  eroded  by  the  grinding  of  the  moving  ice  and 
the  rock  is  bare,  save  for  the  clinging  moss,  streaked  by  the 
white  filaments  of  cascades.  On  the  eastern  side  the  shore 
rises  to  a  rounded  mountain,  2400  feet  high,  separated  by  a 
low  saddle  from  its  counterpart.  These  two  smooth  hilltops 
probably  constituted  at  one  time  a  nunatak  twin,  upstanding 
through  the  ice  when  the  glacier  was  bigger.  On  the  western 
side  the  mountains  are  nearly  twice  as  high — fully  4000  feet — 
and  their  summits  are  not  glaciated,  but  jagged.  On  that  side 
several  small  cirques  or  hollows  indicate  places  from  which 
tributary  glaciers  formerly  descended :  for  even  the  immense 
body  of  moving  ice  now  called  the  Taku  glacier  is  but  a  shriv- 
eled remnant  of  a  much  larger  mass  that  once  pervaded  this 
region.  This  ice-field  from  which  the  glacier  issues  is  over- 
looked by  peaks  rising  to  7600  feet.  The  Taku  ice-river  is 
2  miles  wide  for  a  length  of  8  miles,  becoming  constricted  to 
one  mile  at  the  outlet :  it  is  the  protruding  paw  of  an  ice-field 
reaching  for  30  miles,  close  to  the  Hritish  Columbian  boundarv. 


AN 
ICE-BERG 

IN 
TAKU   INLET. 


62  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Taku  inlet  affords  the  contrast  between  a  dead  and  a  live 
glacier.  The  Windom  glacier  is  bespattered  with  dirt  and  the 
forest  grows  up  to  the  edge ;  the  ice  is  not  moving.  The  Taku 
or  Foster  glacier  is  alive,  it  is,  moving,  and  as  the  ice  enters 
the  waters  of  the  inlet  it  is  broken  with  a  roar  that  reverber- 
ates among  the  mountains. 

When  the  throbbing  engine  of  our  launch  was  stopped,  the 
silence  was  intense.  The  air  was  perfectly  still  and  the  water 
reflected  the  surrounding  shore.  We  were  close  to  the  bergs 
coming  from  the  glacier's  front.  White  and  blue,  as  the  light 
played  on  them,  they  glided  like  stately  sail-ships  to  the  sea. 
Suddenly  a  huge  splash,  as  of  a  leviathan  bathing,  indicated 
that  a  berg  had  lost  its  balance,  by  melting,  and  toppled  over. 
Our  launch  rocked  and  the  waves  made  all  the  other  ice-bergs 
tremble.  Other  mysterious  noises,  both  near  and  far,  betokened 
restless  movement  all  around  us.  When  a  small  piece  of  ice 
breaks  from  a  berg  the  equilibrium  of  the  floating  mass  is  up- 
set ;  it  splashes  and  threshes  around  like  a  porpoise.  We  heard 
the  constant  call  of  the  waterfall.  Then  there  came  the  boom 
of  a  cannonade  and  an  echo  like  thunder.  Surely  something 
tremendous  had  happened.  A  crack  had  been  formed,  a  mass 
of  ice  detached  itself  from  the  glacier,  and  a  berg  was  created. 
And  if  these  noises  were  vivid,  the  colors  in  the  scene  fairly 
shouted.  The  rock  slopes  are  purple  with  moisture,  the  scrub 
and  forest  are  massed  in  dark  blue  and  gray,  the  ice-bergs  are 
azure,  the  glacier  is  white,  save  wrhere  cracks  show  in  bands 
of  sapphire.  And  all  these  colors  are  repeated,  with  a  thou- 
sand tints,  in  the  water  that  is  moving  gently  seaward. 

The  wind  veered  and  we  were  in  danger  of  being  sur- 
rounded by  ice-bergs ;  we  had  to  proceed  down  the  inlet,  pass- 
ing near  enough  to  the  Windom  glacier  to  be  able  to  see  the 
crevassing  along  its  broken  back.  Lifeless  and  decrepit  it 
seemed  in  contrast  to  its  brother  glacier.  The  sunshine  break- 
ing through  the  mists  flooded  it  momentarily  with  light,  but 
vainly.  Warm  upon  the  dying  glacier  fell  the  gleam  of  living 
day.  A  dead  glacier  and  an  extinct  volcano  are  types  of  power 
laid  low,  of  youthful  tempers  disciplined  by  age  and  reduced 
to  an  equilibrium  so  perfect  as  to  be  incompatible  with  life. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  SILENT  CITY. 

This  is  the  story  of  a  scientific  fake.  It  was  skilfully  done, 
so  that  many  were  fooled  for  a  long  time.  The  perpetrator  was 
Richard  G.  Willoughby,  known  to  his  friends  as  Dick  and  to 
the  public  as  the  Professor.  He  came  to  Alaska  from  South 
Carolina,  where  he  had  been  a  Methodist  preacher.  This  was 
an  avocation  for  which  he  was  well  fitted  by  the  possession  of 
a  long  white  beard  and  a  resonant  voice.  The  Professor  was 
a  good  talker  and,  among  other  accomplishments,  he  was  a 
ventriloquist.  When  he  left  the  South  he  went  northwestward 
to  the  Cariboo  and  the  Cassiar  mining  districts,  and  finally 
reached  Juneau  in  1881. 

In  1885  Dick  Willoughby  brought  news  to  the  people  of 
Juneau  that  he  had  discovered  a  wonderful  mirage;  it  was  to 
be  seen  above  the  Muir  glacier.  He  described  the  vision  as 
that  of  a  modern  city,  with  church-towers,  large  buildings, 
vessels  in  the  docks,  and  people  moving  in  the  streets.  The 
wonderful  mirage  had  been  seen  by  him  on  several  occasions, 
but  especially  on  June  21,  the  longest  day  of  the  year,  when 
the  sunlight  was  particularly  strong.  This  story  was  repeated 
by  him  at  intervals  on  his  return  from  various  prospecting 
expeditions,  until  1889,  when  a  sensation  was  caused  by  the 
statement  that  he  had  actually  succeeded  in  getting  a  photo- 
graph of  the  "silent  city."  Great  was  the  excitement  at 
Juneau  and  throughout  southeastern  Alaska. 

An  association  of  local  men  was  formed  at  Juneau  for  the 
purpose  of  exploiting  the  discovery  and  of  selling  the  prints 
struck  off  Willoughby 's  wonderful  negative.  It  was  decided 
to  investigate  the  phenomenon  and  to  get  more  photographs 


64  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

of  it.  In  June  1889  an  expedition  was  organized.  At  the  head 
of  it  were  the  Professor  himself  and  a  man  named  Minor  W. 
Bruce.  Bruce  represented  the  Omaha  Bee  and  other  news- 
papers. He  was  an  enterprising  journalist  of  the  irresponsible 
kind  and  made  an  excellent  second  to  Willoughby.  Bruce 
had  come  to  Alaska  to  'write  up'  the  country  and  some  of  the 
business  men  of  Juneau  thought  that  he  was  well  qualified  to 
advertise  both  the  Silent  City  and,  incidentally,  the  mineral 
resources  of  the  region.  Even  those  residents  of  Juneau  who 
were  sceptical  as  to  the  mirage  were  alive  to  the  fact  that  the 
story  served  as  a  good  drawing  card  to  attract  the  people  from 
'below,'  that  is,  the  dwellers  in  the  States.  Under  these  au- 
spices an  expedition  was  equipped  to  observe  and  photograph 
the  mirage,  which,  so  said  the  Professor,  was  due  on  or  about 
the  longest  day  of  the  year,  known  to  astronomers  as  the  sum- 
mer solstice.  The  expedition  set  sail,  proceeding  down  Gas- 
tineau  Channel,  around  the  southern  end  of  Douglas  island,  up 
Chatham  strait,  and  thence  to  the  inlet  leading  to  the  Muir 
glacier.  A  few  weeks  later  an  excursion  steamer,  the  George 
W.  Elder,  returning  from  a  visit  to  the  glacier,  brought  news 
that  a  member  of  the  Willoughby  expedition  had  come  aboard 
in  Glacier  bay  and  had  stated  that  on  the  day  previous  Bruce 
had  gone  forth  over  the  glacier  with  his  camera  to  take  a  shot 
at  the  Silent  City,  which,  so  Willoughby  said,  was  about  to 
appear.  A  fog  had  settled  over  the  ice,  and  although  Bruce 's 
camera  was  found,  he  was  missing.  Not  far  away  from  the 
spot  where  his  camera  lay,  there  was  a  wide  crevasse,  and  it 
was  feared  that  Bruce  while  wandering  in  the  fog  had  fallen 
into  this  crevasse.  The  young  man  who  brought  this  news  to 
the  captain  of  the  excursion  steamer  asked  for  ropes  and  grap- 
nels wherewith  to  explore  the  crevasse.  He  also  requested 
some  provisions.  These  requests  were  met,  with  assurances  of 
sympathy  and  interest  on  the  part  of  the  excursionists;  and 
when  the  (irorijp  W.  Elder  arrived  at  Juneau  the  news  of  the 
mishap  created  much  excitement,  not  only  in  Alaska  but  also 
in  the  States,  the  fellow  journalists  of  Bruce  doing  their  duty 
nobly.  This  stimulated  the  demand  for  photographs  of  the 
Silent  Citv;  "thev  went  like  hot  cakes." 


THE  SILENT  CITY.  65 

Nearly  a  month  later  the  expedition  returned  to  Juneau 
and  as  it  disembarked  it  was  seen  that  Bruce  had  been  found ; 
his  head  was  heavily  bandaged  and  a  boy  was  needed  to  lead 
him  to  his  cabin.  Evidently  he  had  suffered.  All  the  town 
was  agog  to  hear  the  news.  He  was  interviewed.  His  story 
was  that  when  the  fog  enveloped  him  while  crossing  the  glacier, 
he  had  tried  to  reach  the  camp,  but  wandered  in  the  wrong 
direction,  so  that  when  the  sun  finally  broke  through  the  fog 
he  found  himself  isolated  from  his  party.  While  trying  to 
find  his  way  back,  he  became  snow-blinded.  To  be  blinded  by 


IN  CHATHAM  STRAIT. 

the  glare  from  sunlit  snow  is  painful,  as  those  who  have  suf- 
fered can  testify.  Bruce  had  to  stop ;  he  sat  down  on  the  ice 
under  the  shadow  of  a  large  hummock,  where  he  was  found 
next  day.  His  companions  had  searched  for  him  and  had  heard 
his  call.  This  was  a  fine  yarn.  The  expedition  brought  Bruce 
to  Juneau  in  order  that  he  might  get  medical  attendance.  Wil- 
loughby  explained  that  it  was  then  too  late  in  the  season  to 
get  a  new  photograph  of  the  mirage.  But  the  sale  of  prints 
from  his  first  negative  proceeded  in  a  lively  manner  and  the 
tourists  came  to  Juneau  to  hear  all  about  the  wonderful  phe- 
nomenon seen  by  the  Professor. 


66  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  Bruce  really  was  snow-blinded,  but  he 
soon  recovered.  About  this  time,  in  July  1889,  another  steamer, 
the  Ancon,  went  to  Glacier  bay  and  many  of  the  passengers 
saw  the  mirage  of  a  single  spruce  tree  above  the  Muir  glacier. 
The  150  excursionists  returned  to  testify  to  this  fact  and  the 
news  stimulated  interest  in  the  Willoughby  legend.  More 
prints  of  the  Silent  City  were  purchased.  In  the  following 
winter  Willoughby  sold  the  original  negative  for  $500  to  a 
photographer  at  San  Francisco. 

A  print  from  the  original  negative  of  the  Silent  City  was 
given  to  me  by  a  friend  at  Sitka,  and  is  reproduced  here,  to- 
gether with  the  portrait  of  the  perpetrator  of  this  colossal  fake. 
The  Professor  is  shown  in  the  act  of  shooting  at  Nature  in  one 
of  her  wonderful  moods.  The  Silent  City  looks  like  a  large 
English  town ;  the  negative  has  been  over-exposed  and  the  out- 
lines are  dimmed.  The  trees  in  the  foreground  are  leafless; 
evidently  it  is  not  midsummer,  and  yet  the  Professor  claimed 
that  he  had  obtained  the  photograph  on  June  21,  for  only  on 
the  longest  day  of  the  year  was  the  mirage  perfect.  This  little 
discrepancy  escaped  general  notice.  The  negative  was  on  glass, 
8  by  10  inches ;  it  had  been  poorly  developed  and  it  did  not  fit 
Willoughby  fs  plate-holder,  nor  could  it  have  been  taken  by  his 
lens,  which  was  a  portrait  lens.  These  facts  were  ascertained 
by  my  informant  early  in  the  game,  and  if  he  did  not  hasten 
to  expose  the  fraud,  it  was  because  he  liked  the  old  Professor, 
he  saw  that  the  myth  helped  to  bring  tourists  to  Alaska,  and 
he  could  not  see  what  harm  was  being  done  to  anyone,  the 
credulity  of  the  public  being  scarcely  worthy  of  any  particular 
protection.  At  Juneau  people  used  to  stand  in  a  row  waiting 
their  turn  to  buy  one  of  the  photographs  of  the  Silent  City,  and 
the  demand  occasionally  exceeded  the  supply. 

The  truth  is  that  in  1887  Willoughby  happened  to  be  at 
Victoria,  on  Vancouver  island,  and  while  strolling  on  the  dock 
he  saw  a  young  tourist  from  Bristol,  England,  who  was  in  the 
act  of  selling  a  photographic  outfit,  including  a  box  of  plates 
all  of  which  had  been  exposed.  The  negatives,  together  with 
the  outfit,  were  bought  by  Willoughby  for  $10.  Among  them 
was  an  over-exposed  and  badly  developed  picture  of  the  city 


.   -       (« 

I*      O 


I  2 


-       0) 

—     :- 
h    bfi 


68  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

of  Bristol.  It  probably  reminded  him  of  a  mirage  and  of  the 
optical  effects  seen  above  the  glacier.  His  imaginative  mind 
came  to  the  aid  of  his  loose  morality  and  from  the  union  of  the 
two  arose  the  idea  of  the  photograph  of  a  Silent  City  vibrating 
in  the  tenuous  air  of  Glacier  bay.  During  the  excitement  that 
followed  the  events  in  1889  the  American  consul  stationed  at 
Bristol,  while  on  a  visit  to  San  Francisco,  happened  to  see  one 
of  the  photographs  of  the  Silent  City  on  exhibition  in  a  store- 
window  and  recognized  it  as  Bristol.  This  fact  was  not  gen- 
erally known.  Upon  sending  a  print  to  my  cousin,  J.  C.  Hurle, 
at  Bristol,  he  was  kind  enough  to  make  enquiries  concerning 
the  date  of  the  building  operations  at  the  cathedral,  the  towers 
of  which  are  readily  seen  to  be  undergoing  construction  in  the 
photograph  of  the  Silent  City,  otherwise  the  City  of  Bristol. 
The  Clerk  of  the  Chapter  testified  that  "the  western  towers 
of  the  cathedral  were  completed  in  1888,  when  the  capstone 
of  the  pinnacles  was  laid  by  Mrs.  Norris."  It  was  in  1887  that 
Willoughby  got  hold  of  the  photograph,  which  evidently  was 
taken  before  the  work  on  the  cathedral  towers  had  been  fin- 
ished, probably  in  the  winter  of  1886.  Willoughby  used  to  say 
that  as  he  saw  the  mirage  in  successive  years  the  church-towers 
appeared  taller,  but  he  never  explained  why  the  trees  were 
without  leaves  in  June.  On  the  back  of  the  photograph  of  the 
Silent  City  is  the  following  inscription,  which  is  well  calculated 
to  stir  the  somnolent  intelligence  of  a  tourist : 

The  Glacial  Wonder  or  'The  Silent  City.' 

"For  the  past  fifteen  years  Prof.  Richard  Willoughby  has 
been  a  character  in  Alaska  as  well  known  among  the  whites 
as  he  has  been  familiar  to  the  natives.  As  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  old  Fort  Wrangel,  in  which  his  individuality  was 
stamped  among  the  sturdy  miners  who  frequented  the  then 
important  trading  post  of  Alaska,  he  has  grown  with  the  Ter- 
ritory, and  is  today  as  much  a  part  of  its  history  as  the  totem 
poles  arc  identified  with  the  deeds  of  valor,  or  commemorative 
of  the  past  triumphs  of  prominent  members  of  the  tribes,  which 
their  hideous  and  mysterious  characters  represent. 


THE   PROFESSOR  AT   WORK. 
Willoughby   and   His  Camera. 


70  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

"To  him  belongs  the  honor  of  being  the  first  American  who 
discovered  gold  within  Alaska's  icy-bound  peaks,  but  his  great- 
est achievement,  from  a  scientific  standpoint,  is  his  tearing 
from  the  glacier's  chilly  bosom  the  'Mirages'  of  cities  from 
distant  climes. 

"After  four  years  of  labor,  amid  dangers,  privation  and  suf- 
ferings, he  accomplished  for  the  civilized  world  a  feat  in  pho- 
tography heretofore  considered  problematic. 

"It  was  on  the  longest  day  in  June  1888  that  the  camera 
took  within  its  grasp  the  reproduction  of  a  city,  remote,  if  in- 
deed, not  altogether  within  the  recesses  of  another  world.  The 

'Silent  City' 

Is  here  presented  for  the  consideration  of  the  public  as  the 
wonder  and  pride  of  Alaska's  bleak  hills,  and  the  ever  chang- 
ing glaciers  may  never  again  afford  a  like  opportunity  for  the 
accomplishment  of  this  sublime  phenomena." 

This  queer  rigmarole  was  the  work  of  Bruce.  Of  course, 
Willoughby  was  not  the  first  discoverer  of  gold  in  Alaska, 
although  he  was  the  perpetrator  of  a  "sublime  phenomena." 
Among  his  other  discoveries  was  that  of  "coal-oil  in  chunks," 
namely,  asphaltum.  He  was  able  to  scare  the  Indians  by  his 
tricks  as  a  ventriloquist  and  he  passed  among  them  in  safety 
by  utilizing  this  accomplishment.  On  one  occasion  he  had  a 
companion  who  wore  false  teeth  and  a  glass  eye ;  between  the 
two  of  them  they  buffaloed  the  natives  much  in  the  manner 
of  the  Major  in  Rider  Haggard's  story  of  'King  Solomon's 
Mines.' 

Willoughby  died  two  or  three  years  ago.  He  made  a  living 
by  selling  mining  claims,  clearing  $1500  to  $3000  each  year 
by  quick  deals,  for  he  had  a  plausible  manner  and  was  an 
entertaining  talker,  with  a  great  fund  of  anecdote.  Among 
the  miners  he  was  particularly  popular,  for  they  were  im- 
pressed by  his  smattering  of  learning.  Willoughby  was  for  25 
years  one  of  the  living  landmarks  of  Alaskan  development  and 
his  memory  should  be  preserved  as  a  warning  to  the  credulous. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  separate  the  grain  of  truth  from 


IN   SITKA   HARBOR. 
Photograph  by  E.  W.  Merrill,  Sitka.  Published   by   Permission. 


72  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

the  chaff  of  charlatanism  apparent  in  the  story  of  the  Silent 
City.    What  is  a  mirage? 

A  mirage  is  an  optical  effect  by  virtue  of  which  distant 
objects  are  seen  out  of  their  real  position.    Light  in  traveling 
from  an  object  to  the  eye  of  the  observer  passes  through  the 
air ;  this  air  is  not  always  of  uniform  density ;  in  a  hot  country 
the  layer  nearest  the  earth  will  be  so  heated  as  to  be  rarified ; 
in  a  cold  country  the  lowermost  layer  over  the  ground  is  con- 
densed by  contact  with  the  ice  or  snow.    Above  this  lowermost 
layer  will  come  others  in  succession  and  these  may  be  suc- 
cessively rarer  or  denser.    Such  layers  of  air  serve  as  mediums 
for  bending  the  rays  of  light  out  of  their  straight  course,  so 
that  they  proceed  apparently  from  a  new  position.    The  result 
is  to  give  a  magnified  or  a  distorted  image  or  even  to  bring 
into  view  an  object  not  otherwise  visible.     For  example,  the 
men  on  the  whaling  ships  that  cruise  in  the  Arctic  are  reported 
to  have  seen  Nome  while  still  north  of  Bering  Strait.    Nome  is 
a  small  town  on  the  shore  of  Bering  Sea  and  to  the  explorers 
in  that  remote  corner  of  the  world  it  is  the  outpost  of  civiliza- 
tion, a  place  for  comforts  not  obtainable  in  the  wilderness  of 
ice  and  snow;  in  other  words,  Nome  is  as  the  sight  of  home. 
Sailors  and  fishermen  that  are  steering  for  the  roadstead  off 
Nome  will  be  astonished  to  see  Nome  pictures  in  the  sky,  real 
as  life,  while  still  so  distant  from  it  as  to  be  normally  out  of 
sight.     When  this  happens  the  air  is  still,  the  layer  near  the 
surface   is  chilled  so  as  to  be  more  dense  than  the  average. 
Light  normally  travels  in  a  straight  line.     If  it  passes  from 
one  layer  to  another  of  different  density,  it  will  be  subject  to 
deviation  ;  it  is  possible  for  the  variation  in  density  in  going 
upward  to  be  of  such  magnitude  that  the  light  will  follow  the 
curvature  of  the  earth,  so  that  an  object  actually  below  the 
hori/on  will  be  clearly  seen  at  a  great  distance,  but  in  an  ele- 
vated position  corresponding  to  the  direction  in  which  the  light 
is  traveling  when  it  enters  the  eye.     If  the  distribution  of  den- 
sity is  such  that  the  rays  from  the  upper  portion  of  the  object 
cross  those  coming  from  the  lower  portion,  the  object  will  be 
inverted.     Most  of  these  effects  can  be  observed  by  viewing 
objects  through  a  bad  pane  of  window-glass,  that  is,  glass  of 


74  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

unequal  thickness,  producing  a  result  like  that  due  to  layers 
of  air  of  unequal  density. 

In  hot  and  arid  regions,  where  sandy  plains  stretch  forth 
to  a  low  horizon,  the  lowermost  layer  of  air  becomes  rarified 
by  the  hot  ground,  provided  that  no  breeze  stirs  the  atmos- 
phere so  as  to  mix  the  layers  of  unequal  density.  A  condition 
of  atmospheric  calm  is  necessary  for  the  formation  of  a  mirage. 
Under  such  circumstances  the  prospector  in  Western  Australia 
or  Arizona  will  see  a  lake  with  trees  reflected  along  its  shore, 
and  many  a  man  half-crazed  with  thirst  has  seen  limpid  water 
where  only  an  alkaline  waste  existed.  Imagination  comes  to 
the  aid  of  refraction  and  the  brain  persuades  the  eye  that  it 
sees  things  that  do  not  exist.  The  mirage  is  due  to  an  inverted 
image  of  the  sky  appearing  beyond  the  portion  of  the  plain 
visible  to  the  observer.  This  inverted  sky  simulates  a  body 
of  water,  and  if  any  object,  such  as  a  tree,  happens  to  break 
the  horizon,  there  is  the  appearance  of  a  reflection  in  a  lake. 
In  cold  regions  the  distribution  of  a  layer  of  cold  air  high  above 
the  ground  will  cause  the  lower  homogeneous  layer  of  air  to 
transmit  an  image  in  its  true  position,  while  the  reflection 
from  the  upper  layer  yields  another  but  inverted  image  of  the 
same  object.  Many  strange  effects  are  produced  and  the 
strangeness  of  them  is  heightened  by  the  imagination  of  the 
observer.  A  mirage  can  be  photographed,  but  a  hallucination 
will  make  no  impression  on  a  sensitized  plate ;  a  mirage  is  a 
true  image  of  a  real  object ;  a  hallucination  is  a  condition  of 
thought  in  a  distempered  brain ;  one  is  objective,  the  other  is 
subjective. 

What  Willoughby  really  saw  above  the  Muir  glacier  we  can 
judge  from  what  you  or  I  can  see  there  today.  Mirages  are 
not  infrequent;  the  air  above  the  mass  of  ice  is  rendered  dense 
and  the  dense  layer  serves  as  a  medium  for  the  phenomenon 
of  refraction.  On  sundry  occasions  he  probably  saw  the  hum- 
mocks and  pinnacles  of  ice  refracted  and  reflected  by  the  over- 
lying air  until  they  seemed  like  the  minarets  and  towers  of  a 
city  not  made  with  hands,  or,  by  aid  of  his  imagination,  he 
even  saw  a  resemblance  to  the  church-towers  and  belfries  of 
towns  many  thousand  miles  away  from  the  Muir  glacier.  Un- 


AN  ALASKAN  TROUT   STREAM. 
Photograph   by  E.  W.  Merrill,   Sitka.  Published  by  Permission. 


76  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

loose  the  imagination  of  a  man  so  fundamentally  ignorant  and 
so  constitutionally  visionary  as  the  Professor,  and  something 
was  bound  to  happen.  The  mirage  looked  somewhat  like  a 
city.  When  he  bought  the  photographic  equipment  at  Vic- 
toria and  found  a  foggy  picture  of  a  city,  that  looked  to  him 
like  the  mirage.  He  looked  at  it  again,  and  yet  again,  and  the 
more  he  looked  at  the  over-exposed  plate  the  more  the  image 
upon  it  looked  like  his  city  of  the  mirage,  until  finally,  by  aid 
of  a  stimulant  not  unknown  in  Alaska,  he  came  to  the  irrevoca- 
ble conclusion  that  he  had  at  last  obtained  the  photograph  of 
the  silent  city  above  the  glacier.  Having  persuaded  himself, 
it  was  easy  to  deceive  others.  The  fake  prospered  amazingly. 
Two  men  knew  the  truth.  One  of  them,  whom  we  may  call 
the  Judge,  measured  Willoughby's  plate-holder  and  satisfied 
himself  that  the  photograph  could  not  have  been  taken  by  the 
Professor.  The  other  was  Colonel  Richard  Dixon,  a  kindly  old 
Southern  gentleman  who  suspected  a  fraud ;  he  went  to  the 
Judge  on  the  quiet  and  asked  him  to  "put  him  onto  the  game," 
so  that  he  might  enjoy  the  fun.  The  Judge  trusted  the  Colonel* 
and  told  him  what  he  believed  to  be  the  truth.  Thereafter  these 
two  old  jokers  used  to  meet,  compare  notes,  and  enjoy  the 
humor  of  the  performance,  which  kept  Juneau  in  the  fore- 
front of  tourist  interest  and  newspaper  notoriety  for  many 
years. 

*Col.  Dixon  was  the  recorder  of  the  Harris  mining  district,  having 
been  elected  in  1881.  When  asked  how  he  obtained  his  military  title, 
the  Colonel  answered:  "My  boy,  I  won  that  title  at  the  Battle  of  Pork 
and  Beans  on  the  Eraser  river  in  the  early  days."  This  brevet  rank 
was  won  at  least  more  worthily  than  that  of  the  Kentuckian  who  de- 
rived his  title  from  having  married  the  widow  of  a  Colonel! 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
SITKA. 

Sitka  is  picturesque  and  historic.  This  little  trading  post 
on  Baranoff  island  stands  on  the  shore  of  a  waterway  that  is 
guarded  by  pretty  islands ;  in  front  rises  the  lofty  cone  of  Mt. 
Edgcumbe,  its  fires  extinguished  and  its  crater  capped  with  the 
cold  snow ;  in  the  background  is  Mt.  Verstovia,  the  name  re- 
calling Russian  rule.  It  means  that  the  mountain  is  one  verst, 
or  3500  feet,  high.  Sitka  lies  off  the  main  line  of  coastal  traffic 
and,  being  now  no  longer  the  capital,  it  has  not  much  to  give 
it  importance  in  the  way  of  business ;  but  as  a  museum  of 
Alaskan  history,  Sitka  is  unique.  Being  also  a  clean  pleasant 
village  set  in  exquisite  scenery,  it  is  a  place  every  traveler 
should  visit. 

Sitka  is  the  native  name  and  means  high  land;  Sheet-kah 
represents  the  Indian  pronunciation.  Incidentally,  I  may  add 
that  Yakutat  was  the  first  Russian  penal  settlement  and  de- 
rives its  name  from  the  Siberians  or  Yakuts  who  served  as 
guards  for  the  prisoners.  The  native  name  for  Yakutat  bay  is 
Thlah-kah-cek,  meaning  'the  breeding  place  for  hair  seal.'  The 
old  settlement  of  St.  Paul  is  now  Kadiak;  the  steamship  maps 
spell  it  Kodiak,  which  is  wrong. 

Sitka  has  a  population  of  400  whites,  including  200  Rus- 
sians and  Russian  Creoles,  that  is,  descendants  from  the  first 
mixture  of  Russian  and  Aleut.  In  addition,  there  are  700  na- 
tives. The  chief  citizen  is  Sergius  Kostrometinoff,  called 
George,  for  short.  He  is  a  Russian  by  birth  who  was  living  hi 
Sitka  at  the  time  of  the  transfer;  hence  his  friends  label  him 
"an  American  by  purchase."  Mr.  Kostrometinoff  is  extremely 
well  versed  in  Alaskan  history  and  to  him  I  owe  much  of  the 
information  concerning  the  early  days  of  the  settlement. 


78  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Sitka  was  built  close  by  the  shore ;  the  Russians  were  afraid 
to  push  inland  on  account  of  the  Indians.  The  Russian  houses 
were  made  of  hewn  logs,  with  low  ceilings,  weather-boarded 
outside,  snug  and  warm.  Double  windows,  and  a  big  tile  stove, 
more  than  sufficed  to  withstand  the  winter.  The  climate  is 
milder  now  than  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago ;  there  is  more 
rain,  less  snow,  and  the  glaciers  are  retreating. 

The  Russian  settlement  at  Sitka  was  a  fort  and  a  trading 
post.  Both  were  designed  for  business  with  the  natives.  The 
block-houses  were  built  in  Governor  Etolin's  time,  between 
1850  and  1854.  The  one  that  survives  used  to  stand  50  yards 
north  of  the  pond  behind  the  Post  exchange  or  canteen ;  an 
American  officer,  Major  Campbell,  took  this  block-house  and 
placed  it  on  its  present  site.  The  stockade  that  protected  the 
trading  post  had  a  zig-zag  course  from  the  foreshore  to  the 
lake ;  and  at  each  corner  stood  a  block-house.  The  stumps  of 
the  posts  of  this  stockade  are  still  visible,  although  rotted  and 
almost  hidden  by  the  grass. 

The  captain  of  the  Ciiy  of  Seattle  is  so  inconsiderate  as  to 
land  us  at  3  a.m.  We  are  given  the  rare  chance  of  seeing  the 
awakening  of  Sitka.  On  every  roof  the  ravens  roost,  like 
mourners  for  departed  Russian  glory.  One  or  two  of  them 
lift  an  inquisitive  glance  and  croak  solemnly.  The  flapping 
of  wings  stirs  the  dreaming  silence.  Suddenly,  at  6  o'clock, 
the  bugler  of  the  U.  S.  Marine  Corps  sounds  the  reveille.  Surely 
that  inspiring  clarion  will  awaken  the  town.  It  does  not.  At 
6 :10  the  ravens  utter  raucous  croaks  and  one  of  them  flies 
away  with  a  shrill  scream.  Sitka  still  sleeps.  At  6 : 12  smoke 
curls  lazily  from  a  chimney  on  the  main  street.  That  looks 
hopeful.  At  6 : 14  a  childish  treble  is  heard  from  an  upper 
window.  At  6 : 15  an  alarm-clock  goes  off  in  the  house  opposite. 
At  6:20  two  cats  awake  the  incense-breathing  morn  with 
melancholy  anthems,  punctuated  with  expressions  of  vicious 
disapproval.  At  6:25  the  ravens  drop  from  their  perch  and 
flutter  restlessly.  At  6:30  the  bugler  sounds  another  call  and 
a  suggestion  of  breakfast  floats  in  the  air.  At  6:35  a  work- 
man strolls  down  the  street  with  his  dinner  pail  :  simultaneously 


80  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

a  distinguished  citizen  is  seen  going  to  bed.  Sitka  salutes  the 
dawn! 

After  Sitka  finally  awoke,  and  breakfast  had  been  obtained 
at  the  Hotel  Baranoff,  Turner  and  I  strolled  along  the  shore 
to  the  Indian  River  park.  On  the  way  we  met  a  Russian  priest 
with  black  cassock  and  long  hair — an  unpleasant  anachronism 
in  western  America.  Dominating  the  main  street,  the  Greek 
church  lifts  its  green  cupola  assertively.  It  is  a  hideous  struc- 
ture ;  not  ever  the  kindly  haze  of  romance  can  soften  its  ugly 
lines.  It  was  built  in  1848  and  is  deemed  an  antiquity.  To  men 
who  speak  of  ten  years  ago  as  the  'early  days'  and  look  upon 
the  time  of  the  Californian  pioneers  as  historic,  1848  seems  long 
ago,  for  many  things  have  happened  since  then.  But  a  church 
sixty  years  old  would  in  Europe  be  considered  so  new  as  to  re- 
quire apology. 

We  pass  the  museum  (which  we  visit  later)  and  several 
pretty  cottages,  some  of  them  old  log-cabins.  The  path  is  near 
the  shore  and  the  scene  is  full  of  charm.  An  Indian  in  his 
canoe  paddles  across  the  bay,  a  fisherman  spreads  his  nets  in 
the  sun,  ducks  fly  athwart  the  shimmering  water,  the  sea 
swirls  round  the  little  islands,  and  the  splash  of  the  incoming 
tide  echoes  among  the  rocks. 

Entering  an  avenue  in  the  forest  reserve,  we  reach  the 
Park.  It  is  a  Government  reservation  covering  a  bit  of  virgin 
forest  through  which  flows  a  trout-stream,  the  Indian  river. 
Among  the  trees  are  totem-poles;  these  were  bought  from  the 
Indians  for  display  at  the  St.  Louis  Exposition  (1904)  and  then 
returned,  at  the  instance  of  Governor  Brady,  to  adorn  this 
park  at  Sitka.  In  a  clearing  four  large  totem-poles  have  been 
erected;  these  represent  the  corner  posts  of  a  chief's  house; 
they  are  carved  on  the  side  facing  inward  and  upon  them  the 
sill  of  the  roof  would  ordinarily  be  placed. 

According  to  custom,  the  totem  stood  close  to  the  door  of 
the  chief's  house:  it  bore  his  heraldic  record.  Although  the 
uncouth  carvings  on  the  totem-poles  suggest  idolatrous  worship, 
it  is  certain  that  the  Ilaidas  and  Thlingits,  who  developed 
totemism,  used  it  merely  to  represent  family  characteristics, 
and  to  symbol  i/e  qualities  belonging  to  individual  chiefs.  It 


TOTEM-POLES  IN   INDIAN  PARK,   SITKA. 
Photograph  by  E.  "W.  Merrill,  Sitka.  Published   by   Permission. 


82  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

would  be  as  reasonable  to  impute  sinister  ideas  to  the  European 
who  puts  his  crest  on  his  ring,  his  linen,  or  his  carriage.  Like 
most  savages,  the  natives  recognized  a  supernatural  power  and 
ascribed  human  intelligence  to  birds  and  beasts ;  this  led  easily 
to  the  idea  of  transmigration  and  to  mythical  notions  concern- 
ing the  change  of  shape  from  men  to  birds  or  other  animals, 
especially  the  lordlier  species,  such  as  the  eagle,  the  bear,  and 
the  whale.  Certain  characteristics  of  their  chiefs  were  symbol- 
ized by  animals,  which  were  carved  on  the  totem-poles.  Each 
family  displayed  the  crest  of  its  head-man  and  when  they  inter- 
married the  totem  recorded  the  fact,  for  example,  that  the 
eagle  clan  had  mated  with  the  wolf.  Families  having  the  same 
emblem  are  held  to  be  blood  relations,  between  whom  mar- 
riage is  forbidden.  Each  house  shelters  several  families  and 
the  carving  on  the  door-post  signifies  to  what  totem  they  be- 
long. On  the  graves  of  the  Ilaidas  and  Thlingits,  other  totems 
are  placed,  not  so  ornate  as  those  that  stand  before  the  houses. 
The  whale  or  a  monstrous  cetacean  resembling  the  orca  or 
grampus,  is  often  portrayed  on  the  grave-totems,  to  typify 
power  and  voracity.  The  bear,  called  lioots  in  Thlingit,  is  the 
crest  of  the  Shakes  family  and  was  adopted  to  symbolize  the 
bravery  of  their  ancestors.  On  a  Kake  grave-totem  the  figure 
of  a  white  man  is  carved  to  remind  the  Raven  clan  that  their 
tribesman  must  be  avenged.  A  raven  is  about  to  swallow  a 
halibut,  symbolizing  the  fate  of  the  white  man.  This  is  not  so 
bad  as  the  latest  development  of  the  totem  idea.  In  front  of 
the  house  of  an  Indian  chief  recently  deceased  I  saw  the  figure 
of  a  bear  badly  carved  in  white  marble  with  gilded  eyes,  teeth, 
and  claws.  It  cost  $220.  What  is  taste?  an  appreciation  of 
what  is  fitting.  But  the  Indian  is  no  worse  than  the  white  man  : 
at  Dawson  I  saw  a  tombstone  made  of  galvanized  iron.  There 
is  no  accounting  for  taste,  or  the  want  of  it. 

In  the  evening  Sitka  is  not  without  diversions.  There  is 
canned  music.  Two  gramophones — one  in  the  Court  House  and 
one  in  the  Marine  barracks — enter  into  a  contest,  calling  to 
each  other  over  the  diagonal  of  the  parade-ground.  As  there 
is  no  traffic,  the  air  is  fully  possessed  by  these  mechanical  song- 
sters. The  strains  of  'Cheer  up,  Mary'  answer  to  'Wai/,  me 


SITKA. 


83 


around  again,  Willy. '  Mt.  Verstovia  and  Mt.  Edgcumbe,  across 
the  water,  look  on  imperturbably.  The  smoke  wreathes  itself 
in  blue  whirls  as  it  rises  from  the  chimneys  of  the  dreaming 
village ;  the  mists  are  laid  in  long  bands  that  belt  the  dark 
woodland ;  the  water  reflects  the  dying  day.  No  footfall  is 


TOTEM-POLE   AT    SITKA. 


heard.  This  is  elysium.  No,  by  thunder,  this  is  only  civiliza- 
tion. One  gramophone  calls  to  another:  'Keep  a  little  cozy 
corner  in  your  heart  for  me':  and  'Cheer  up,  Mary,  there  is  a 
rainbow  in  the  sky'  peals  forth  from  the  opposite  side.  I  feel 
sad.  My  mother  always  said  I  was  not  musical. 

The  church  contains  several  remarkable  pictures.     Most  of 


84 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


these  are  oil  paintings  covered  with  a  sheet  of  metallic  silver, 
except  the  hands,  feet,  and  heads  of  the  sacred  figures  or 
ikons.  One  is  an  ivory  carving,  and  underneath  it  is  a  paint- 
ing on  ivory  overlaid  with  gilded  plate.  The  halos  around  the 
sacred  heads  are  made  of  gilded  silver.  Of  the  two  pictures  of 
St.  Michael,  the  patron  saint  of  this  church,  one  is  painted  on 
wood  and  covered  with  gilded  silver,  while  the  other  is  on 
canvas.  The  most  celebrated  picture  in  the  church  is  the  Lady 


INTERIOR   OK   RUSSIAN   CHURCH.   SITKA. 

of  Kaxaan  ;  this  is  kept  under  glass;  as  much  as  $25.000  has 
been  offered  for  it.  Everything  in  the  church  was  carried  in 
sailing  vessels  around  the  Horn,  the  Lady  of  Kazaan  having 
been  brought  sixty  years  ago.  Several  of  the  pictures  belonged 
to  the  first  church,  built  in  1816  and  destroyed  by  the  Indians 
in  1852.  In  the  cemetery  of  the  Greek  church,  north  of  the 
present  parade  ground,  there  is  a  monument  containing  the 
cross  of  the  church  that  stood  on  that  site,  at  the  time  when 
the  Indians  rushed  it  and  used  it  as  a  point  of  vantage  in  their 


THE  LADY  OF  KAZAAN. 


86  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

attack  on  the  Castle.  The  chapel  of  the  Lady  of  Kazaan,  in 
the  present  church  of  St.  Michael,  contains  a  picture  that  was 
saved  from  the  old  church ;  it  hung  out  of  reach  of  the  Indians, 
who  stabbed  it  in  four  or  five  places  with  their  spears.  The 
canvas  shows  the  marks,  although  it  has  been  repaired. 

We  were  shown  the  marriage  crowns;  these  are  silvered, 
gilded,  and  decorated  with  Siberian  stones.  They  are  held 
over  the  heads  of  the  bride  and  groom  by  the  'crown-holders,' 
wrho  take  the  place  of  the  groomsman  and  bridesmaid,  in  the 
procession  around  the  altar.  The  wedding  takes  place  in  the 
middle  of  the  church  and  lasts  three-quarters  of  an  hour.  We 
were  also  shown  the  robes  of  the  priests  and  of  the  bishop. 
The  former  are  old  and  worn ;  the  latter  are  handsome  in  gilt 
and  silver,  and  were  brought  by  the  bishop  himself  when  he 
came  to  Sitka  from  Russia  five  years  ago.  The  big  bible  is 
bound  in  solid  silver,  gilded.  Each  corner  of  the  book,  and  the 
centre,  bears  a  painting  on  porcelain  decorated  with  imitation 
brilliants.  This  bible  is  used  only  on  special  feast-days.  The 
silver  is  stamped  with  the  hall-mark  84.  The  eight  pillars  that 
support  the  dome  of  the  church  are  solid  hewn  logs  fully  20 
inches  in  diameter.  Large  swinging  candelabra  and  banners 
complete  the  decorations.  The  banners  include  an  American 
flag,  a  Russian  mercantile  nag,  and  the  standards  of  the  re- 
ligious societies  connected  with  the  church. 

All  the  paraphernalia  mentioned  are  interesting  as  relics  of 
a  passing  era.  They  are  less  interesting  to  the  European  than 
to  the  American  unused  to  the  fripperies  of  medievalism.  The 
totems  of  the  Indian  seem  barbarous  to  the  Russian  priest ;  the 
veneer  of  silver  and  gold,  with  sham  jewelry,  and  queer  por- 
traits of  mythical  personages,  seem  barbarous  to  the  modern 
American;  and  the  modern  American's  worship  of  the  ticker 
and  the  tape  will  seem  someday  a  queer  form  of  idolatry  to 
Macaulay's  New  Zealander. 

In  the  museum  the  most  interesting  objects  are  the  canoes, 
by  aid  of  which  the  country  was  explored  both  by  natives  and 
by  the  Russians  from  the  Siberian  coast.  The  kai/ak  of  the 
Eskimo  and  the  Aleut  was  called  a  hirtnrka  or  bniilnrkn  by  the 
Russians.  I  saw  one  being  built  at  Nome.  It  consisted  of  a 


SITKA. 


87 


frame  of  spruce  ribs,  over  which  is  drawn  a  cover  of  walrus 
skin  that  has  been  sewn  into  one  piece,  the  last  stitching  being 
completed  when  the  skin  has  been  stretched  over  the  wooden 
frame.  The  skin  is  wet ;  as  it  dries  it  contracts  and  hardens  so 
as  to  fit  the  frame  closely.  This  boat  is  usually  built  to  hold 
one  occupant,  who  sits  erect  in  a  hole  at  the  centre,  the  rim  of 
which  serves  as  an  attachment  for  a  waterproof  covering  or 
shirt,  called  by  the  Russians  a  gamlinka,  which  goes  over  the 


A   BAIDARKA   AND   ESKIMO. 

head  so  that  no  water  can  enter  the  interior  of  the  canoe.  This 
covering  is  made  of  membrane  obtained  from  the  intestines  of 
the  walrus  or  seal ;  it  is  thin,  light,  and  strong.  When  securely 
tied  around  the  wrists  and  neck  with  cord  made  of  walrus 
ligature,  the  boatman  is  well  equipped  to  face  the  spray.  The 
larger  boat,  able  to  hold  a  family,  is  called  an  oomiak  or  uniak. 
The  Russians  call  it  a  lidarra  or  baidarra.  It  is  flat-bottomed, 
and  consists  of  a  wooden  frame  tied  with  seal-skin  thongs, 
over  which  the  skins  of  seals  are  stretched  after  having  been 


88  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

prepared,  oiled,  and  sewn  together  with  walrus  thongs  to  hold 
them  in  place.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon,  while  aground  on 
the  bar,  we  saw  many  of  these  aboriginal  boats.  Each  boat- 
man had  several  spears,  used  for  sticking  fish,  and  to  these  an 
inflated  bladder  was  attached  so  that  the  spear  would  float  in 
the  water.  Some  of  the  boats  were  provided  with  large  blad- 
ders, serving  as  corks  to  render  the  vessel  unsinkable.  The 
armor  worn  by  the  native  warriors  was  also  made  from  material 
of  marine  origin ;  it  was  a  coat  having  three  thicknesses  of 
walrus  hide,  padded  heavily  at  the  shoulders.  Speaking  of 
armor,  the  cuirass  of  woven  steel  links  worn  for  27  years  by 
Baranoff  was  found  by  Sergius  Kostrometinoff  in  the  possession 
of  Shaketoo,  an  Indian  chief.  Mr.  Kostrometinoff  bought  this 
coat  of  mail  from  the  Indian  chief  and  gave  it  to  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  in  1906. 

From  a  point  of  vantage  in  the  Russian  Lutheran  cemetery, 
the  traveler  can  obtain  a  good  view  of  the  Bay  with  its  "thou- 
sand islands,"  the  northern  approach  through  Whitestone 
Narrows,  and  the  wireless  telegraph  station  on  Japonsky 
island  (where  a  Japanese  junk  was  once  wrecked).  On  the 
south  shore  are  the  Agricultural  building  standing  on  Castle 
hill,  the  Russian  gray  barracks  now  used  as  a  Court  House  and 
jail ;  next  to  it,  the  Custom  House  and  Post-Office ;  on  the  wharf, 
a  big  red  warehouse ;  while  near-by  are  the  tops  of  the  houses 
in  the  Indian  village.  To  the  east,  half-hidden  by  the  trees,  is 
the  old  block-house  and  the  new  magnetic  station ;  beyond  are 
Silver  bay  and  snowy  peaks.  Behind  the  town  is  Swan  lake 
and  Mt.  Verstovia,  with  an  intervening  valley  in  which  the 
experiment  farm  battles  aggressively  with  the  stubborn  wilder- 
ness. Close  at  hand  the  graves  with  their  Greek  crosses  are 
almost  smothered  by  salmon-berry  bushes  and  the  rank  vegeta- 
tion of  a  brief  summer,  including  the  briar  rose,  now  in  bloom 
and  bearing  the  perfume  of  other  days. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
HISTORICAL. 

Let  us  turn  back  to  the  pages  of  history  and  seek  the  story 
of  Sitka  and  the  Russian  occupation.  In  June  1741  Vitus 
Bering,  a  Danish  captain  in  the  Russian  service,  sailed  from 
Kamchatka  hoping  to  reach  the  American  mainland.  Ten  years 
earlier  some  Cossacks,  caught  in  a  gale,  had  been  driven  across 
the  Pacific  to  the  shores  of  the  eastern  islands  and  had  seen  the 
continent  of  America.  This  had  excited  interest  at  St.  Peters- 
burg. On  July  15,  1741,  one  of  Bering's  lieutenants,  Alexis 
Chirikoff,  anchored  off  the  coast,  near  Cross  Sound.  This  event 
marked  the  discovery  of  Alaska.  Bering  himself,  an  incom- 
petent navigator  and  a  court  favorite,  made  no  useful  explora- 
tions, but  hovered  on  the  coast  until  his  death  in  December, 
1741.  The  furs  his  sailors  brought  back  to  Kamchatka  aroused 
the  greed  of  the  Russians  and  led  many  of  them  to  brave  the 
crossing  to  the  opposite  coast.  The  fur-traders  or  promishleniTci 
sailed  the  stormy  sea  in  boats  30  feet  long  and  12  feet  broad, 
with  flat  bottoms,  made  of  plank  fastened  by  walrus  thongs  and 
calked  with  moss.  The  sails  were  made  of  soft  dressed  rein- 
deer skins,  such  as  the  Eskimo  wear,  and  for  ropes  they  had 
straps  of  elk  skin.  Thus  a  fur  trade  with  the  Aleuts  was  begun, 
and  with  it  came  the  usual  atrocities  perpetrated  by  the  semi- 
civilized  adventurer  when  dealing  with  defenceless  natives. 
Bancroft  observes:  "As  the  little  sable  had  enticed  the  Cos- 
sack from  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Volga  across  the  Ural  moun- 
tains and  the  vast  plains  of  Siberia  to  the  shores  of  the  Okhotsk 
Sea  and  the  Pacific,  so  now  the  sea-otter  lures  the  same  venture- 
some race  out  among  the  islands,  and  ice,  and  fog-banks  of 
ocean." 


90  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

In  1779  the  Empress  Catherine  II  issued  a  ukase  ordering 
the  Aleuts,  or  inhabitants  of  the  then  known  portion  of  Alaska, 
to  pay  tribute.  In  1781  Ivan  Golikoff  and  Gregory  Shilikoff 
formed  an  association  for  the  effective  control  of  the  fur  trade. 
In  1783  Shilikoff  erected  a  factory  on  Kadiak  island,  and  in 
1790  at  Irkutsk  he  organized  another  fur  company.  In  that 
year  Alexander  Baranoff,  a  sailor  conspicuous  for  his  energy, 
was  put  in  charge  of  the  trading  post  of  Kadiak.  He  was  soon 
appointed  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Russian  colonies. 

In  1795  Shilikoff  died.  In  1799  the  Emperor  Paul  gave  the 
control  of  the  Russian  colonies  to  the  members  of  the  old  fur 
company  under  the  name  of  the  Russian  American  Company, 
Alexander  Baranoff  was  placed  in  charge  and  became  the  Chief 
Director  or  Governor.  He  ruled  with  a  rough  hand  from  July 
27,  1791,  to  January  11,  1818.  Astor's  agent,  Hunt,  describes 
Baranoff  as  "a  hyperborean  veteran,  overflowing  with  hos- 
pitality, who,  if  his  guests  do  not  drink  raw  rum  and  boiling 
punch  as  strong  as  sulphur,  will  insult  them  when  he  gets 
drunk,  which  will  be  shortly  after  he  sits  down  to  table." 

On  May  25,  1799,  Baranoff  established  the  first  trading  post 
at  a  spot  six  miles  north  of  the  present  site  of  Sitka.  This  is 
now  called  Old  Sitka,  but  the  Russians  called  it  Fort  Archangel 
Gabriel.  Nothing  remains  of  this  first  settlement,  but  the 
natives  use  it  as  a  fishing  station  in  summer.  The  Russian 
church  has  placed  a  cross  on  the  site. 

Baranoff  then  returned  to  St.  Paul,  on  Kadiak  island.  Dur- 
ing his  absence,  in  June  1802,  the  Indians  massacred  the  Rus- 
sian settlement,  killing  all  the  officers  and  30  men.  Only  5  Rus- 
sians survived.  It  is  claimed  that  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
was  interfering  with  Russian  trade  by  selling  muskets  to  the 
natives ;  the  British  traders  would  come  as  far  as  Lindenberg 
harbor  (near  Silkoh  bay),  sending  an  Indian  in  a  canoe  to  tell 
the  natives  at  Sitka,  and  the  latter  would  then  pack  up  their 
pelts  and  meet  the  Hudson's  Bay  factor,  bartering  furs  for  guns 
and  ammunition.  The  Indians  then  lived  on  Crab  Apple  island, 
at  the  entrance  of  Whitestone  Narrows.  After  the  massacre, 
the  natives  moved  to  the  mouth  of  what  is  now  known  as  Indian 
river  and  built  a  stockade.  From  this  stronghold  they  defied 


HISTORICAL. 


91 


the  Kussians.  In  September  1804  Baranoff  arrived  with  two 
ships  and  shortly  after  he  was  joined  by  Capt.  Lisiansky,  with 
the  gunboat  Neva.  They  anchored  their  vessels  between  Colum- 
bine island  and  the  mouth  of  Indian  river.  The  Neva  opened 
fire  with  her  guns  and  Baranoff  made  an  .unsuccessful  assault 


INDIAN   RIVER   PARK,   SITKA. 

upon  the  fort,  being  wounded  himself.  Five  days  later  the 
natives  evacuated  the  fort,  because  their  ammunition  was  ex- 
hausted. They  had  killed  their  children  and  their  dogs,  lest 
by  making  a  noise  they  might  give  the  alarm  when  the  retreat 
was  made.  Baranoff  landed  and  found  the  fort  empty,  save 
for  dead  children  and  dogs,  and  one  live  old  woman.  He  estab- 


92  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

lished  a  new  post  and  called  it  the  Fort  Archangel  Michael,  and 
the  settlement  he  called  Novo  Arkhangelsk  or  the  New  Arch- 
angel. This  became  the  existing  town  of  Sitka.  Baranoff  lived 
there.  He  built  his  first  dwelling  where  the  kitchen  of  the  pres- 
ent Court  House  stands ;  later  he  erected  a  residence  on  the  hill 
where  the  building  of  the  Agricultural  Department  now  looks 
out  to  sea.  In  1813  he  improved  this  house,  which  was  finally 
reconstructed  by  Governor  Kuprianoff  in  1836.  It  was  then 
called  the  Baranoff  castle,  and  had  two  stories  made  of  large 
logs,  traversed  by  iron  bolts  between  each  window.  On  the  top 
of  this  structure  was  a  cupola,  used  as  lighthouse,  and  in  the 
basement  a  cellar  for  storing  ammunition.  In  1867  Alaska  was 
transferred  to  the  United  States.  On  March  17,  1894,  the  castle 
was  consumed  by  fire.  It  is  suspected  that  the  disaster  was 
caused  by  an  incendiary  who  wanted  to  destroy  certain  court 
records.  A  year  before  the  fire  the  United  States  Government 
had  repaired  the  building  and  made  it  suitable  for  the  sittings 
of  the  District  Court.  The  officials  were  just  moving  in,  and 
the  only  occupant  at  the  time  was  the  U.  S.  Commissioner, 
Robert  C.  Rogers,  an  old  man,  who  lived  upstairs  on  the  north- 
west side  of  the  building.  The  fire  broke  out  on  the  east  side 
under  the  Judge's  chamber,  and  on  that  very  day  the  Judge 
had  been  examining  certain  accounts  in  which  irregularities 
were  suspected. 

After  the  burning  of  the  castle  the  present  Marine  Hospital 
was  used  as  the  residence  of  the  governors  of  Alaska,  until 
Juneau  was  made  the  capital.  The  site  of  Baranoff 's  castle  is 
now  occupied  by  the  Alaskan  office  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of 
Agriculture.  This  ornate  colonial  building  was  erected  in  1902 
and  bespeaks  the  systematic  effort  to  encourage  the  primal  in- 
dustry. 

An  army  post  was  established  at  Sitka  after  the  transfer, 
and  persisted  until  1877.  The  marines  were  first  stationed  here 
in  1880,  and  two  companies  are  in  residence  today.  They  oc- 
cupy the  former  hospital,  the  old  Russian  barracks  being  used 
as  a  jail.  On  the  wharf  is  a  large  warehouse  built  of  heavy 
logs ;  when  the  transfer  from  Russia  was  made,  this  building 
contained  30,000  seal-skins  which  were  sold  for  $2.65  apiece. 


H 

g 

fc 
K 

w 

EH 

|i 
gf 

W   c 
H  S 


94  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

In  the  spring  of  this  year  (1908)  seal  fur  sold  for  $25.  The 
large  log  building  on  the  right,  going  up  the  main  street  from 
the  landing,  was  the  warehouse  of  the  Russian  American  Com- 
pany. 

The  United  States  paid  $7,000,000  for  Alaska,  and  $200,000 
for  the  property  of  the  Russian  company,  including  the  castle, 
warehouse,  barracks,  and  so  forth.  The  smaller  part  of  this 
transaction  has  always  been  involved  in  mystery.  At  the  time 
of  the  transfer  Prince  Demetrius  Maksutoff  was  Governor ;  he 
had  occupied  this  position  since  1864.  Among  those  who  landed 
from  the  steamer  John  L.  Stevens,  bringing  the  officials  that 
took  part  in  the  ceremony  by  which  the  transfer  of  Alaska 
was  effected  on  October  18,  1867,  was  a  San  Francisco  merchant 
named  H.  M.  Hutchinson.  He  proceeded  at  once  to  the  castle, 
and  made  an  arrangement  with  Maksutoff  whereby  he  acquired 
the  Russian  company's  vessels  and  other  property  for  the  firm 
of  Hutchinson,  Kohl  &  Co.  Later,  there  was  a  sign  on  the  door 
of  an  office  in  San  Francisco  reading  the  Maksutoff,  Hutchin- 
son, Kohl  Company.  When  the  Russian  government  learned  of 
this,  an  objection  was  raised  to  the  use  of  the  Governor's  name, 
and  it  was  stricken  out,  but  he  retained  an  interest  and  is  said 
to  have  made  a  lot  of  money  by  his  participation.  In  1869  the 
Alaska  Commercial  Company  was  incorporated  with  a  capital 
of  $2,000,000.  In  1870  Congress  granted  a  lease  of  the  Prybiloff 
islands  to  this  company  for  20  years.  In  1872  the  Alaska  Com- 
mercial Company  purchased  the  property  of  Hutchinson,  Kohl 
&  Co.  In  1876,  a  year  before  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops,  a 
man  named  Whitford  rented  a  portion  of  the  warehouse  and 
used  it  as  a  store.  After  the  withdrawal  of  military  authority 
he  took  possession  of  the  entire  building,  until  Brady,  a  mis- 
sionary who  was  appointed  Governor,  joined  Whitford  under 
the  name  of  the  Sitka  Trading  Company.  They  were  never  dis- 
possessed, and  in  1888  a  law  was  passed  confirming  their  rights. 
At  the  time  of  the  anarchy  in  1877  the  people  of  Sitka  appealed 
for  protection  to  the  British  authorities  at  Esquimalt,  the  IT.  S. 
Government  having  apparently  left  them  in  the  lurch.  It  is 
said  to  this  day  that  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company  was 
anxious  to  prevent  interference  from  Federal  authority,  hence 


RUSSIAN  BLOCK-HOUSE   AT   SITKA. 


96  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

the  apathy  of  the  department  at  Washington.  The  matter  was 
never  elucidated,  and  the  disposal  of  the  $200,000  remains  un- 
known. 

Alaska  has  had  a  variety  of  rule  and  misrule.  After  the 
transfer  the  district  was  under  military  control  for  ten  years. 
Garrisons  were  stationed  at  Sitka,  Wrangell,  and  Tongass.  In 
June  1877  the  soldiers  were  withdrawn  and  the  region  came 
under  the  administration  of  the  Treasury  Department.  The 
Collector  of  Customs  became  the  sole  representative  of  Federal 
authority.  When  the  troops  were  withdrawn  the  people  of 
Sitka  were  left  without  protection.  The  Indians,  thinking  that 
the  U.  S.  Government  had  abandoned  the  country,  became 
troublesome.  Within  a  week  after  the  soldiers'  departure,  the 
Indians  cut  down  the  stockade  and  invaded  every  unoccupied 
Government  house,  removing  the  windows,  doors,  and  parti- 
tions. A  period  of  disquiet  ensued.  This  culminated  in  riot  in 
1878.  On  February  6  the  chief  named  Kaht-le-ahn  had  given  a 
feast  or  potlach,  accompanied  by  free  drinking  of  hoot-che-noo,* 
and  the  Indians  went  on  the  rampage.  The  Kah-sat-tee  clan, 
led  by  Kaht-le-ahn,  murdered  the  American  in  charge  of  the 
Hot  Springs,  18  miles  from  Sitka,  on  the  same  island.f  These 
Indians  were  about  to  make  an  attack  on  the  Sitka  settlement 
when  the  Kah-quan-tan  tribe,  led  by  Ah-nah-hootz,  came  to  the 
rescue  of  the  white  people.  The  Indians  fought  among  them- 
selves and  this  caused  a  postponement  of  the  assault  on  Sitka. 
A  steamer  (the  California}  arrived  next  day  and  some  of  the 
settlers  embarked,  carrying  the  news  to  Victoria,  British  Co- 
lumbia. Twenty  days  later  (on  March  1)  the  British  warship 

*Hootchenoo  is  made  from  molasses,  to  which  are  added  flour,  dried 
apples  or  rice,  yeast  powder,  and  sometimes  hops.  A  thin  batter  is 
made  by  adding  water  to  this  mixture,  and  when  fermentation  has 
taken  place  a  sour,  highly  alcoholic  liquor  is  obtained.  It  has  an 
abominable  taste  and  odor. 

fThe  Hot  Springs  are  south  of  Sitka.  Even  before  the  coming  of 
the  Rusisans,  in  1805,  the  Indians  used  the  thermal  waters.  Up  to 
the  time  of  the  transfer  the  Russians  maintained  a  hospital  at  the 
Springs,  the  magnesian  waters  having  proved  beneficial  to  sufferers 
from  cutaneous  and  other  disorders.  The  principal  spring  has  a 
temperature  of  154°  F. 


tf 
o 

QQ 

O       : 
02    ^2 

<  s 


98  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Osprcy  came  to  Sitka  and  protected  the  settlement  until  the 
U.  S.  gunboat  Alaska  arrived,  on  April  3.  In  June  1879  the 
Alaska  was  succeeded  by  the  Jamestown,  and  thenceforth  the 
territory  remained  under  the  protecting  wing  of  the  Navy  De- 
partment until  civil  government  was  established  by  the  Organic 
Act  of  May  17,  1884.  Thus  three  departments  of  the  Federal 
government,  namely,  the  War,  the  Treasury,  and  the  Navy,  in 
turn  administered  this  "non-contiguous  possession"  of  the 
United  States.  These  changes  of  administration  were  accom- 
panied by  lax  government,  prejudicial  to  business.  In  August 
1877  there  were  only  15  Americans  and  5  Russians  at  Sitka. 
Bancroft  emphasizes  the  demoralization  during  the  military 
occupation  of  the  first  ten  years ;  the  soldiers  behaved  disgrace- 
fully, and  the  settlement  was  full  of  disreputable  people  of  both 
sexes.  Sitka  was  ' '  a  grand  house  of  ill  fame. ' '  Even  after  the 
change  to  naval  control,  the  affairs  of  this  distant  American 
colony  were  allowed  to  drift,  and  Alaska,  as  a  whole,  suffered 
for  a  long  time  from  the  predatory  schemes  of  adventurers  and 
politicians.  Bancroft  speaks  of  Alaska's  "midnight  suns  in 
midsummer,  her  phantom  auroras  in  midwinter,  and  her  phan- 
tom government  at  all  seasons  of  the  year." 

The  settlements  at  Sitka,  Wrangell,  Juneau.  and  Skagway 
at  different  dates  improvised  various  crude  but  effective  forms 
of  municipal  government.  At  Juneau,  mining  regulations  were 
devised  on  the  basis  of  early  Californian  custom.  The  code  of 
California  had  become  the  foundation  of  the  mining  laws  of 
the  United  States.  It  expressed  the  conventions  of  a  democracy 
pure  and  simple,  for  the  regulations  were  passed  in  open  meet- 
ing and  the  vote  of  the  majority  was  final.  The  rules  for  locat- 
ing claims  and  for  holding  possession  were  just,  brief,  and  to 
the  point.  Public  opinion  made  them  effective  and  a  sense  of 
fair  play  made  them  respected.  Equity  was  law. 

The  Organic  Act  created  an  executive  and  a  judiciary,  but 
omitted  a  legislature.  The  gap  thus  left  was  supposed  to  be 
filled  by  the  declaration  that  "the  laws  of  the  State  of  Oregon, 
so  far  as  the  same  arc  applicable  and  not  in  conflict  with  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  and  the  Organic  Act,"  should  be 
the  law  of  Alaska  ;  but  from  the  first  a  doubt  has  been  expressed 


100  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

by  the  courts  as  to  application  of  these  laws.  This  afforded 
a  signal  example  of  the  difficulty  of  governing  one  community 
by  reference  to  the  laws  of  another.  On  October  1,  1906,  the 
capital  was  moved  from  Sitka  to  Juneau,  as  elsewhere  related. 

For  several  years  there  has  been  agitation  for  a  Territorial 
government  with  a  legislature  able  to  enact  laws  for  Alaska. 
This  would  mean  that  gambling  would  be  legalized  and  saloons 
would  be  operated  under  a  low  license,  as  is  usual  when  a  Ter- 
ritory is  organized.  On  applying  for  Statehood  these  disrepu- 
table features  are  usually  withdrawn.  The  Organic  Act  made 
gambling  a  crime,  but  it  is  not  possible  to  get  a  jury  to  convict ; 
the  Marshal  seizes  the  paraphernalia  and  thus  stops  "the  music 
of  the  little  rolling  ball"  and  the  shuffling  of  many  cards. 
During  the  last  two  years  the  judges  have  enforced  the  law. 
No  open  gambling  exists  in  Alaska.  The  same  is  true  under  the 
British  flag  in  the  Yukon  Territory.  It  is  believed  that  the 
grant  of  a  legislature  and  Territorial  government  would  give 
political  control  to  the  labor-union  and  saloon  elements  of  the 
population.  Under  the  government  of  a  Territory  the  30,000 
people  of  Alaska*  would  have  to  assume  the  burden  of  main- 
taining law  and  order,  and  of  protecting  life  and  property 
over  580,000  square  miles. 

Crime,  except  counterfeiting  and  offences  against  the  Cus- 
toms, would  have  to  be  detected  and  punished  by  Territorial 
officials.  At  present  the  Federal  Court  has  jurisdiction,  both 
civil  and  criminal.  The  cost  of  maintaining  the  courts  of  the 
District  of  Alaska  in  1906  was  $587,000 ;  in  1907,  it  was  $490,000. 
Compare  Arizona,  a  Territory,  with  Alaska,  a  Federal  District : 
In  Arizona  in  1906  the  United  States  Government,  through  ap- 
propriation by  Congress,  paid  $89,000,  representing  only  the 
salaries  of  the  court  officials  and  of  the  Court  itself  when  sit- 
ting as  a  Federal  department.  Under  the  dual  system  all  crimes 
against  the  laws  of  the  Territory  are  tried  on  the  Territorial 
side  of  the  Court,  and  the  expense  thereof  is  borne  by  the  dif- 
ferent counties  of  the  Territory.  All  offences  against  the  laws 

*In  1908  the  population  of  Alaska  consisted  of  31,000  whites  and 
35,000  natives,  besides  a  floating  population  of  six  to  seven  thousand 
miners  and  cannery  men,  who  come  to  the  country  for  the  summer. 


134 


132° 


60 


132° 


SOUTHEASTERN  ALASKA. 


102  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

of  the  United  States  are  tried  in  the  United  States  courts,  this 
expense  being  debited  to  the  Government.  Offences  against  the 
United  States  include,  besides  counterfeiting  and  infraction  of 
Customs,  the  selling  of  liquor  to  Indians,  violations  of  the  Ed- 
munds Act,  infraction  of  the  postal  laws,  the  revenue  laws,  and 
the  like.  The  Government,  of  course,  also  pays  the  salaries  of 
its  own  officials  in  the  Territory  and  legislative  expenses.  The 
salaries  of  the  judges  are  also  paid  by  the  Government,  although 
the  Territory  usually  sets  aside  additional  sums  for  expenses  of 
the  judges  when  holding  Territorial  courts  in  counties  where  a 
Federal  court  is  not  held.  In  Alaska,  the  cost  under  Terri- 
torial government  would  have  been  $398,000  in  the  same  year. 
Taxable  property  in  Alaska  is  extremely  limited;  the  land,  ex- 
cept a  few  mining  claims  and  townsites  that  are  patented,  is 
owned  by  the  Government  and  pays  no  taxes.  Agricultural 
land  is  negligible.  The  demand  for  Territorial  government 
seems  premature. 

The  most  pressing  need  of  the  District  of  Alaska  is  a  speedy 
and  economical  method  of  acquiring  title  to  land.  The  system 
of  United  States  surveys  by  which  land  is  divided  into  whole, 
half,  and  quarter  sections,  has  never  been  extended  to  Alaska, 
although  for  several  years  there  has  been  an  endeavor  to  engage 
someone  able  to  make  these  surveys  under  the  meagre  appro- 
priation allowed.  In  consequence.  Congress  has  been  obliged 
to  enact  so-called  land  laws  for  Alaska.  These  laws  all  neces- 
sarily contemplate  a  special  survey  by  the  applicant:  there- 
fore anyone  at  the  present  time  desiring  to  acquire  a  title, 
whether  mineral  or  agricultural,  must  employ  a  deputy  sur- 
veyor, and  have  his  survey  approved  by  the  Surveyor  General, 
before  he  can  buy  the  land.  In  all  places  where  the  system  of 
Federal  surveys  has  been  extended,  this  preliminary  Avork  has 
been  obviated. 

Even  the  observations  of  a  traveler  warrant  comment  upon 
another  matter  pertaining  to  the  administration  of  Alaska. 
Owing  to  the  remoteness  of  the  country  and  the  scope  of  in- 
dustrial activities,  the  scattered  community  needs  judges, 
marshals,  and  other  Federal  appointees  that  have  been  carefully 
selected  for  the  discharge  of  varied  duties.  It  is  foolish  to  try 


HISTORICAL.  103 

to  govern  the  District  from  Washington,  and  it  is  criminal  to 
appoint  needy  politicians  to  posts  of  unusual  responsibility.  A 
judge  who  has  never  even  seen  salt  water  before  is  sent  to 
Alaska  to  decide  important  questions  of  admiralty  jurisdiction. 
A  man  who  is  innocent  of  any  knowledge  of  mining  is  appointed 
to  adjudicate  on  fundamental  questions  affecting  the  develop- 
ment of  the  mining  industry.  Examples  could  be  multiplied. 
Both  as  regards  the  fisheries  and  the  mineral  industry,  the  con- 
ditions obtaining  in  Alaska  are  unique ;  they  demand  a  special 
system  of  rules  and  regulations,  and  they  demand  the  services 
of  men  of  approved  character. 


A  few  notes  concerning  the  transfer  of  Alaska  to  the  United 
States  will  be  proper.  Negotiations  were  commenced  in  1861. 
In  1866  the  Russian  government  refused  to  renew  the  charter 
of  the  fur  company.  Russia  was  unwilling  to  continue  the  ex- 
pense of  protecting  a  vast  territory  that  was  so  unproductive, 
and  she  needed  all  her  navy  and  resources  to  meet  British 
aggression  in  Asia.  Finally  a  treaty  was  arranged  by  William 
Seward,  as  Secretary  of  State,  with  the  Russian  envoy,  Edward 
de  Stoeckl,  and  it  was  signed  at  Washington  on  March  30,  1867. 
The  United  States  agreed  to  pay  $7,200,000  in  gold. 

On  Friday,  October  18,  1867,  the  steamer  John,  L.  Stevens 
arrived  at  Sitka ;  on  board  were  the  Russian  commissioner, 
Captain  Alexis  Pestchouroff,  and  the  American  commissioner, 
General  Lovell  N.  Rousseau,  the  latter  being  escorted  by  a  com- 
pany of  the  Ninth  infantry.  The  200  American  soldiers,  under 
General  Jefferson  C.  Davis,  marched  up  the  hill  and  took  a 
position  on  the  east  side  of  the  flagstaff,  which  stood  southeast 
of  the  castle.  An  equal  number  of  Russian  soldiers  was  drawn 
up  \vest  of  the  flagstaff.  It  was  3  : 30  in  the  afternoon.  An  ac- 
count of  the  proceedings  was  given  to  me  by  Mr.  Sergius  Kos- 
trometinoff,  who,  as  a  boy  of  13,  was  present  at  the  ceremony. 
All  being  assembled,  Captain  Pestchouroff  ordered  the  Russian 
flag  to  be  pulled  down.  The  wind  had  twisted  the  flag  round 
the  ropes  and  by  pulling  them  the  flag  was  torn.  This,  as  Mr. 
Kostrometinoff  says,  was  a  "pathetic  sight"  to  the  Russians. 


104  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

A  Russian  soldier  was  told  to  climb  the  flagstaff  and  disentangle 
the  flag.  When  half-way  up  he  became  exhausted  and  slid 
down.  Another  soldier  failed  likewise.  Then  a  boatswain's 
chair  was  rigged  up  and  a  man  was  hoisted.  His  orders  were 
to  loosen  the  flag  and  bring  it  down  with  him ;  but  he  became 
excited  and  dropped  the  flag.  The  wind  carried  it  away  so 
that  it  fell  on  the  bayonets  of  the  Russian  soldiers,  at  which 
they  were  visibly  affected.  In  the  meantime  the  shore  battery 
and  the  American  gunboat  Ossipee  were  firing  a  salute.  The 
Russian  flag  being  down,  the  American  was  hoisted  without  any 
further  incident.  Captain  Pestchouroff  stepped  forward  and 
addressing  General  Rousseau,  said:  "By  the  authority  which 
is  vested  in  me  by  his  Imperial  Majesty  the  Russian  Emperor 
Alexander  the  Second,  I  transfer  the  territory  of  Alaska  to  the 
United  States."  He  spoke  in  English.  General  Rousseau  re- 
plied, accepting  the  transfer.  That  ended  the  affair.  "Thus, 
without  further  ceremony,  without  even  banqueting  or  speech- 
making,  this  vast  area  of  land,  belonging  by  right  to  neither, 
was  transferred  from  one  European  race  to  the  offshoot  of 
another."  So  says  the  American  historian,  Bancroft.  It  was 
an  event  of  greater  significance  than  anyone  then  living  sup- 
posed, and  it  gave  imperishable  fame  to  the  statesman  respon- 
sible. Seward  was  severely  criticized  at  the  time,  but  he  had 
been  in  the  country  and  he  believed  that  it  had  a  future. 
"What,  Mr.  Seward,"  asked  a  friend,  "do  you  consider  the 
most  important  measure  of  your  political  career?"  "The  pur- 
chase of  Alaska,"  he  replied;  "but  it  will  take  the  people  a 
generation  to  find  it  out."  If  the  time  of  a  generation  be  taken 
as  33  years,  the  fulfilment  of  his  prediction  was  due  in  1900. 
Assuredly  Seward  had  been  amply  justified  by  that  date,  and 
he  has  been  more  than  justified  since. 


CHAPTER  X. 
ALASKA  AND  CALIFORNIA. 

The  historic  relation  between  Alaska  and  California  is 
worthy  of  recital.  It  was  founded  on  the  fact  that  the  one 
region  lacked  what  the  other  produced,  namely,  grain  and  vege- 
tables. If  the  Russians  had  been  able  to  get  supplies  of  green 
food  in  Alaska,  their  trading  company  might  have  done  as  well 
as  the  British  East  India  and  the  Hudson's  Bay  companies.  But 
the  soil  of  the  Alaskan  islands  and  peninsulas  was  considered 
too  sterile  for  cultivation,  and  the  opposite  shores  of  Kam- 
chatka and  Okhotsk  were  barren.  Vegetables  were  scarce  and 
scurvy  was  common.  It  was  no  wonder  then  that  Baranoff  wel- 
comed the  American  vessel,  commanded  by  Captain  O'Cain, 
that  brought  a  cargo  of  wheat  and  barley  to  the  starving  Rus- 
sian settlement  in  1803.  This  was  the  beginning  of  trade  with 
California. 

Before  trade  was  established  with  the  Spanish  settlement  at 
San  Francisco,  there  was  exchange  between  Alaska  and  the 
Sandwich  islands,  now  known  as  Hawaii.  Whaling  vessels 
manned  by  Kanakas  would  put  in  at  Sitka  for  fresh  water  and 
supplies.  At  Redoubt,  12  miles  south  of  Sitka  the  Russians 
had  a  saltery  and  from  it  they  used  to  send  salt  fish  to  the 
Sandwich  islands,  taking  in  exchange  the  brown  or  'coffee' 
sugar.  Several  Kanaka  words  in  the  Chinook  jargon  serve  as 
reminders  of  the  early  link  between  the  cold  shores  of  Alaska 
and  the  tropical  islands  of  Hawaii. 

After  O'Cain  discharged  the  cargo  from  his  vessel,  the 
Russian  company  under  Baranoff  had  many  dealings  with 
American  ship-masters  and  arranged  for  the  sale  of  otter  and 
beaver  skins  obtained  outside  of  the  company's  possessions. 


106         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Baranoff  supplied  O'Cain  with  a  party  of  Aleuts  who  caught 
otters  along  the  coast  from  the  strait  of  Juan  de  Fuca  to  the 
Golden  Gate  at  San  Francisco.  The  Spanish  laws  prohibited 
trade  between  Californians  and  foreigners,  but  the  mission 
friars  bought  the  otter  skins  under  cover  of  night  and  paid  for 
them  in  barley,  wheat,  peas,  beans,  and  fruit.  Baranoff 's 
Aleuts  took  otter  skins  into  the  very  Bay  of  San  Francisco, 
the  Spanish  officials  being  unable  to  enforce  their  own  regu- 
lations. And  still  the  supply  of  food  at  Sitka  continued  scanty. 
The  prospects  of  the  Russian  colony  were  gloomy,  when,  in 

1805,  Nikolai   Rezanoff,  the   Imperial   Commissioner,   came   to 
Sitka.     Soon  after  his  arrival  he  purchased  the  American  ship 
Juno  and  her  cargo  of  provisions.     This  prevented  a  famine. 
Then  he  sailed  for  San  Francisco,  with  a  view  to  making  ar- 
rangements with  the  Spanish  authorities  for  a  regular  supply 
of  foodstuffs. 

Unfortunately  the  Spanish  laws  were  clearly  against  the 
exportation  of  grain.  Don  Luis  de  Arrillaga,  the  Governor  of 
the  Spanish  colony,  regretted  that  he  had  to  enforce  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  King.  He  could  neither  sell  grain  nor  buy  the 
goods  brought  by  Rezanoff  on  the  Juno.  Then  came  the  ro- 
mance of  Concepcion,  the  15-year  old  daughter  of  the  coin- 
inandante,  Don  Jose  de  Arguello.  The  Muscovite  fell  in  love 
with  the  Spanish  maiden ;  he  was  a  manly  and  accomplished 
fellow ;  she  was  a  beautiful  and  graceful  girl.  They  were  be- 
trothed. Rezanoff  told  his  sweetheart  that  he  would  die  rather 
than  go  back  to  Sitka  without  food  for  his  people,  and  the  dark- 
eyed  Concepcion  assured  her  father  that  if  her  betrothed  died, 
she  would  soon  follow  him  to  the  grave.  Thereupon  Don  Jose 
told  Don  Luis  to  regard  him  as  an  enemy  if  his  obstinacy  be- 
came the  cause  of  a  beloved  daughter's  death:  and  the  friars 
all  declared  it  was  a  flouting  of  Providence  to  deny  them  a 
market  for  their  produce.  The  Governor  perforce  yielded. 
Rezanoff  sold  his  goods  and  bought  grain  ;  the  Juno  was  loaded 
with  the  necessary  supplies  and  returned  to  Sitka  in  June 

1806.  Shortly  after,  Rezanoff  returned  to  St.   Petersburg,  to 
obtain  the  imperial  consent  to  his  marriage.     Being  in  a  hurry, 
he  went  overland  across  Siberia   from   Kamchatka,  and   while 


108  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

on  his  way  was  killed  by  a  fall  from  his  horse.  His  betrothed 
waited  for  him  year  after  year,  vainly,  watching  the  Golden 
Gate  for  the  ship  that  never  came.  Bret  Harte  tells  us : 

"So  each  year  the  seasons  shifted — wet  and  warm  and  drear  and  dry; 
Half  a  year  of  clouds  and  flowers — half  a  year  of  dust  and  sky: 

Yet  she  heard  the  varying  message,  voiceless  to  all  ears  beside: 
'He  will  come,'  the  flowers  whispered;   'Come  no  more'  the  dry  hills 
sighed. 

Still  she  found  him  with  the  waters  lifted  by  the  morning  breeze — 
Still  she  lost  him  with  the  folding  of  the  great  white-tented  seas." 

The  world  moved  forward ;  on  the  ashes  of  the  romance  of 
Concepcion  de  Arguello,  the  missions  in  California  established 
a  regular  trade  with  the  fur-traders  in  Alaska. 

Rezanoff  left  his  mark  on  Russian  policy.  While  dallying 
near  San  Francisco  he  wrote  to  the  directors  at  St.  Petersburg 
advising  the  establishment  of  a  Russian  settlement  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia  river  and  another  on  the  estuary  of 
the  Sacramento.  "In  this  way,"  he  said,  "in  the  course  of 
ten  years  we  should  be  strong  enough  to  make  use  of  any 
favorable  turn  in  European  politics  to  include  the  coast  of 
California  in  the  Russian  possessions.  The  Spaniards  are 
very  weak  in  these  countries ;  if,  in  1798,  when  war  was  de- 
clared with  Spain,  our  company  had  had  an  adequate  force 
on  the  ground,  it  would  have  been  very  easy  to  seize  a  piece 
of  California  stretching  as  far  south  as  Santa  Barbara."  Ap- 
parently this  suggestion  was  well  received,  for  in  October  1808 
a  vessel  named  the  Kadiak  was  outfitted  at  Sitka  for  a  fili- 
bustering expedition,  under  command  of  Alexander  Kuskoff, 
a  wooden-legged  veteran.  Loaded  with  rum,  the  Kadiak  went 
to  the  Columbia  river  and  did  some  successful  trading.  In 
1810  Kuskoff  went  to  California  and  was  refused  water  by  the 
Spanish  officials.  Cruising  northward,  he  cast  anchor  in  Bo- 
dega bay,  65  miles  north  of  San  Francisco.  lie  reported  a 
tolerable  harbor,  a  fine  building  site,  a  mild  climate,  abun- 
dance of  fish  and  fur-bearing  animals,  with  friendly  Indians 
and  no  Europeans.  The  Spaniards  at  San  Francisco  did  not 


HO  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

molest  him,  but  they  sent  a  protest  to  Madrid,  and  from  there 
it  was  transmitted  to  St.  Petersburg.  The  Russian  Emperor 
Alexander  I  notified  the  directors  of  the  Russian  American 
Company  that  they  might  rely  upon  his  protection.  Soon 
afterward  a  convention  was  signed  between  John  Jacob  Astor 
and  the  Russian  company,  whereby  an  exchange  of  furs  for 
provisions  was  arranged. 

Surveys  and  negotiations  concerning  the  settlement  in  Cali- 
fornia consumed  a  year.  In  1811  a  tract  18  miles  north  of 
Bodega  bay  was  bought  from  the  Indians  for  3  blankets,  3 
pairs  of  breeches,  2  axes,  3  hoes,  and  some  beads.  There  was 
no  anchorage,  but  in  other  respects  this  locality  was  prefer- 
able to  the  one  first  selected.  Here  in  April  1812,  just  as 
Napoleon  was  preparing  to  invade  Russia,  a  party  of  95  Rus- 
sians, of  whom  25  were  mechanics,  landed.  They  were  accom- 
panied by  80  Aleuts.  All  hands  set  to  work  forthwith  to  fell 
trees  for  building  purposes.  By  the  end  of  September  Kus- 
koff  had  erected  a  fortified  village  on  a  bluff  110  feet  above 
tide-water  and  about  eight  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Slav- 
ianka.  called  San  Sebastian  by  the  Spaniards,  and  now  known 
as  the  Russian  river.  The  stockade  and  block-houses  resem- 
bled those  built  by  Baranoff  at  Sitka.  A  rectangular  enclosure, 
250  by  300  feet,  was  formed  with  posts  12  to  15  feet  high,  sur- 
mounted by  a  bar  in  which  were  set  obstructing  spikes  of  wood 
and  iron.  Hexagonal  block-houses  guarded  each  corner  and 
in  them  cannon  were  mounted.  This  fortified  enclosure  was 
strong  enough  to  deter  Spanish  attack.  Outside  of  the  stock- 
ade the  Aleuts  had  their  huts,  and  close  to  them  were  the  wind- 
mill, granaries,  cattle-yards,  tannery,  and  workshops.  A  well 
kept  garden  adjoined  these  buildings.  Thus  the  settlement 
was  strongly  protected  and  intelligently  planned.  It  was 
called  Fort  Ross,  or  Russian  Fort,  /'o.v.v  is  the  root  of  I'nssia, 
the  vernacular  for  our  word  'Russia.' 

The  Spaniards  disliked  this  Russian  trespass  into  their 
sphere  of  influence  and  annoyed  the  new  settlement  as  much 
as  possible,  but  they  could  not  stop  the  contraband  trade 
maintained  between  Fort  Ross  and  San  Francisco.  The  au- 
thorities were  compelled  to  wink  at  the  infraction  of  regu- 


112  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

lations.  In  1817  the  padres  founded  the  mission  of  San  Rafael ; 
this  seemed  to  menace  the  Russians,  but  they  sent  gifts  to  the 
church.  Soon  afterward  Canonigo  Fernandez  came  from  San 
Francisco  as  a  representative  of  Mexico  and  notified  the  Rus- 
sian commander  that  he  must  evacuate  Fort  Ross  within  six 
months.  The  commander  glanced  at  his  fortifications  and  told 
the  envoy  that  the  region  had  not  been  in  possession  of  any 
other  power  when  the  Russians  occupied  it,  that  the  site  had 
been  bought  from  the  Indians,  and  that  he  was  quite  pre- 
pared to  meet  force  with  force.  A  similar  attitude  was  assumed 
by  Kostrometinoff,  who  was  the  next  commander.*  Nothing 
happened ;  possession  was  retained,  trade  was  maintained,  and 
the  Russians  began  to  have  a  title  by  prescription. 

In  1831  Baron  F.  P.  Von  Wrangell  was  appointed  Director 
of  the  Russian  American  colonies.  He  was  an  Arctic  explorer, 
a  scientific  authority,  a  statesman,  and  a  sailor ;  in  fact,  Wran- 
gell was  much  the  highest  type  of  man  ever  connected  with 
the  Russian  settlements  in  America.  He  visited  Fort  Ross  in 
1832  and  it  devolved  upon  him  to  decide  what  to  do  with  this 
isolated  possession.  Being  a  diplomat,  he  began  to  fence  with 
the  Spaniards.  To  force  the  position,  he  established  a  trading 
post  at  Sausalito  and  negotiated  for  the  cession  of  San  Rafael 
to  the  Russian  company.  The  Spanish  governor  retaliated  by 
planting  a  settlement  at  Sonoma.  Nevertheless,  Wrangell 
was  not  enthusiastic  over  the  future  of  Fort  Ross.  He  reported 
to  his  company  that  unless  they  annexed  the  country  eastward 
as  far  as  the  upper  Sacramento  valley  and  southward  as  far 
as  San  Francisco  bay,  they  had  better  abandon  Fort  Ross  en- 
cirely.  It  was  costing  45,000  to  70,000  rubles  annually,  while 
the  revenue  from  furs  and  other  products  ranged  between 
8000  and  25,000  rubles  only.  Another  authority  states  that 
between  1825  and  1830  the  expenses  of  the  Ross  settlement 
were  45,000  rubles,  while  receipts  averaged  less  nan  13,000 
per  year.  The  Russian  company  tried  to  persuade  the  Gov- 
ernment at  St.  Petersburg  that  it  would  be  well  to  secure  a 
slice  of  California  before  it  changed  hands,  but  Nesselrode 

*And  uncle  of  the  Sergius  Kostrometinoff,  of  Sitka,  to  whom  ref- 
erence has  been  made. 


ALASKA  AND  CALIFORNIA.  113 

was  unwilling  to  embroil  his  country  with  the  United  States 
and  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  proposal.  [California  was  ceded 
by  Mexico  to  the  United  States  by  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe 
Hidalgo,  signed  on  February  2,  1848.]  Thereupon  Kuprianoff, 
who  succeeded  Wrangell  in  1836,  suggested  the  abandonment 
of  Fort  Ross.  In  April  1839  the  directors  passed  a  resolution 
to  this  effect.  Kuprianoff  offered  the  Russian  property  in 
California  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  for  $30,000,  and 
then,  when  they  declined  to  buy,  he  offered  it,  in  1840,  to  the 
Mexican  government,  which  also  refused  to  consider  the  pur- 
chase. Thereupon  Captain  John  A.  Sutter  appeared  on  the 
scene.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  buying  property  on  credit  and 
he  made  a  proposal  to  the  Russian  officials.  On  December  13, 
1841,  a  formal  contract  was  signed  in  the  office  of  the  sub- 
prefect  at  San  Francisco  between  Sutter  and  Kostrometinoff, 
by  which  the  latter  assigned  to  the  former  all  the  property  at 
Fort  Ross  and  Bodega.  This  included  1700  head  of  cattle,  940 
horses,  900  sheep,  besides  improvements  and  implements.  The 
price  was  $30,000,  divided  in  four  annual  installments :  two 
of  $5000  each,  payable  in  wheat;  a  third  of  $10,000,  also  in 
wrheat;  and  a  fourth  of  $10,000,  to  be  paid  in  cash.  The  sale 
included  all  the  improvements,  but  not  the  land.  On  the  day 
before  the  deed  was  signed,  the  manager,  Rochef,  executed  a 
private  deed  assigning  to  Sutter  for  $30,000,  the  receipt  of 
which  was  acknowledged,  all  the  lands  held  by  the  Russians. 
This  part  of  the  transaction  was  kept  secret,  but  nearly  twenty 
years  afterward,  when  property  on  Russian  river  became  valu- 
able, the  deed  came  to  light  and  many  ranch-owners  paid  Sut- 
ter for  quit-claims.  The  Russian  government  never  asserted 
title  to  the  land  at  Fort  Ross,  nor  was  there  any  reference  to 
the  subject  in  the  negotiations  preceding  the  transfer  of  Alaska 
to  the  United  States. 

The  Ru:  '  in  garrison  at  Fort  Ross  embarked  on  the  ship 
Constantino  in  February  1842.  A  single  Russian  remained  as 
watchman  until  the  arrival  of  John  Bidwell,  who  assumed 
charge  in  behalf  of  Sutter. 

The  Russian  American  Company  found  it  difficult  to  col- 
lect its  price  from  Sutter.  He  was  an  impecunious  person. 


114  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

For  three  years  no  payment  was  made,  either  in  wheat  or 
money.  Then  a  small  contribution  was  made  in  the  form  of 
a  consignment  of  wheat.  It  was  believed  at  Monterey,  which 
was  the  Mexican  headquarters,  that  Sutter  was  negotiating 
for  the  transfer  of  his  estate,  then  called  New  Helvetia,  to 
other  Americans;  to  prevent  this,  it  was  proposed  by  the 
Mexican  authorities  to  pay  off  the  Russian  claim  and  acquire 
the  mortgage  on  Sutter 's  property.  These  plans  were  never 
consummated,  for  soon  afterward  California  passed  under  the 
American  flag.  The  Russian  company  recorded  its  mortgage, 
but  the  influx  of  population  following  upon  the  annexation 
and  the  discovery  of  gold,  in  1848,  set  Sutter  on  his  feet.  Be- 
fore 1850  he  had  liquidated  his  debt.  The  last  installment  of 
$15,000  was  paid  to  the  company's  agent  at  San  Francisco,  but 
the  man  absconded.  In  consequence  of  this  theft  and  the  ex- 
pense of  prosecution,  a  deficit  appeared  on  the  Russian  com- 
pany's books  for  37,484  rubles  and  50  kopeks.  Thus  ended  the 
Russian  occupation  in  California. 


Sutter 's  name  was  made  famous  later  by  becoming  con- 
nected with  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California.  He  was  of 
Swiss  parentage,  born  in  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden,  whence 
he  emigrated  to  New  York  in  1834,  at  the  age  of  31  years. 
Arriving  in  California  from  the  Sandwich  islands,  now  called 
Hawaii,  with  a  company  of  Kanakas,  he  became  naturalized 
as  a  Mexican  and  obtained  a  license  to  settle  in  the  valley  of 
the  Sacramento.  At  the  confluence  of  the  American  and  Sac- 
ramento rivers  he  established  a  colony  called  New  Helvetia, 
on  the  site  of  the  city  of  Sacramento.  There  he  built  a  stock- 
ade or  fort.  As  a  naturalized  citizen  of  Mexico,  in  1842  he 
was  called  upon  by  the  Spanish  governor  to  oppose  the  in- 
vasion of  California  by  the  bands  of  Americans  then  begin- 
ning to  come  overland  to  the  Pacific  slope  from  Missouri  and 
Arkansas.  But  Sutter  was  not  solicitous  for  the  integrity  of 
the  Mexican  territory.  He  realized  that  it  was  to  his  interest 
to  welcome,  rather  than  oppose,  the  newcomers;  he  saw  that 
thev  were  destined  to  become  the  masters  of  California,  and 


ALASKA  AND  CALIFORNIA. 


115 


that  their  friendship  was  more  advantageous  to  him  than  their 
enmity.  Thus  he  excited  the  suspicion  of  the  Mexican  officials, 
who,  however,  were  helpless  to  discipline  him  at  this  juncture. 
In  1844  he  organized  a  military  company,  receiving  the  appoint- 
ment of  captain  at  the  hands  of  Micheltorena,  the  Governor  of 
Alta  California.  These  preparations  were  against  Alvarado 
and  Castro,  who  had  started  .a  revolution,  at  a  time  when  war 
with  the  United  States  was  imminent.  Micheltorena  and  Sut- 
ter  united  in  fighting  Alvarado  and  Castro.  The  former  were 


IN  QUIET  WATERS. 


accompanied  by  a  number  of  Indians  and  took  with  them  the 
Russian  cannon  from  Fort  Ross.  The  opposing  forces  met  at 
Cahuenga,  near  San  Fernando,  close  to  the  present  city  of  Los 
Angeles,  in  February  1845.  Micheltorena  and  Sutter  were 
easily  beaten,  and  capitulated.  Sutter  was  permitted  to  return 
to  Sacramento,  a  sadder  and  a  wiser  man.  But  fate  was  kind 
to  him;  he  was  destined  to  win  a  distinction  through  which 
this  fiasco  would  be  forgotten.  When  war  broke  out  between 
Mexico  and  the  United  States  in  1845,  the  American  flag  was 


116  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

raised  at  Monterey  on  July  6  and  at  Slitter's  fort  on  July  8, 
and  from  that  date  it  has  been  the  sign  of  American  dominion 
in  California. 

Sutter  served  as  Indian  agent  under  the  American  admin- 
istration, and  in  1847  he  was  appointed  special  commissioner 
by  Governor  Mason.  In  the  same  year  he  did  himself  credit 
by  promptitude  and  generosity  in  fitting  out  an  expedition  to 
relieve  the  party  of  80  immigrants  from  Illinois,  of  whom  36 
perished  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  near  Donner  lake.  Sutter  be- 
haved well ;  but  his  great  opportunity  was  coming.  His  forti- 
fied enclosure  on  the  Sacramento  river  had  become  a  large 
establishment,  ov^r  which  he  presided  in  a  patriarchal  way. 
Before  the  counOy  was  wrested  from  Mexico,  this  enterprising 
Swiss  had  power  to  inflict  punishment  and  he  was  monarch  of 
all  he  surveyed ;  when  American  settlers  poured  across  the 
mountains  from  the  East  he  saw  that  there  would  be  a  good 
market  for  lumber,  so  he  planned  the  building  of  a  saw-mill 
on  one  of  the  streams  issuing  through  the  foot-hills  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada.  Among  others  sent  by  Sutter  to  search  for  a 
suitable  site  was  James  W.  Marshall,  a  carpenter  from  New 
Jersey.  This  was  in  the  summer  of  1847.  Marshall  returned 
in  a  month  saying  that  he  had  found  a  suitable  spot  on  the 
south  fork  of  the  American  river,  at  a  place  now  known  as 
Coloma,  about  35  miles  northeast  of  Sacramento.  It  was  ar- 
ranged for  Marshall  to  build  and  run  the  mill,  which  was 
erected  by  the  middle  of  January  1848.  When  ready  it  was 
found  that  the  ditch  or  race,  leading  the  water  from  the  wheel, 
was  not  deep  enough.  Marshall  scoured  it  with  the  swift  cur- 
rent, opening  the  flood-gates  to  full  capacity.  The  water  was 
allowed  to  run  all  night,  and  in  the  morning  the  gates  were 
closed  while  Marshall  examined  the  mill-race.  In  the  gravel 
loosened  by  the  current  he  saw  several  bits  of  gold.  By  ham- 
mering a  specimen  with  a  stone  he  ascertained  that  the  heavy 
yellow  metal  was  gold.  That  was  on  January  19,  1848.  A  few 
days  later  he  went  down  to  New  Helvetia  or  Slitter's  fort  and 
told  Sutter  that  he  had  discovered  gold.  Sutter  tested  the 
metal  with  aqua-fortis  or  nitric  acid,  which  he  found  among 
his  apothecary  stores;  he  read  the  article  on  gold  in  his  copy 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


of  the  Encyclopedia  Americana  ;  he  weighed  the  metal  and 
compared  it  with  coins  ;  thereupon  he  pronounced  the  substance 
to  be  gold  and  nothing  else. 

That  incident  marks  the  beginning  of  the  Golden  Age  of 
California's  youth.  A  wide-spread  mining  excitement  followed 
and  fortunes  were  made  by  thousands  of  men.  But  neither 
Sutter  nor  Marshall  had  any  legal  claim  to  the  ground  on 
which  the  gold  was  found,  although  a  few  months  later  Sutter 
sold  his  supposed  rights  for  $6000  and  Marshall  disposed  of  a 
one-third  interest  in  the  mill  and  timber  for  $2000.  Neither 
Sutter  nor  Marshall  benefited  by  the  historic  discovery  with 
which  their  names  are  indelibly  associated.  In  1870  the  Legis- 
lature of  California  passed  a  bill  appropriating  to  "General 
John  A.  Sutter,  the  pioneer  of  1839  and  founder  of  New  Hel- 
vetia, once  the  richest  and  most  powerful  foreigner  in  the 
country,  but  by  that  time  reduced  to  poverty,  a  sum  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  month."  I  quote  Hittell.  A 
similar  grant  for  Marshall  was  passed,  but  not  being  approved 
by  the  Governor,  it  failed  to  help  the  poor  man  who  had  opened 
the  natural  treasury  of  California.  In  1872,  however,  an  ap- 
propriation of  $200  per  month  for  his  support  was  granted  and 
was  paid  to  him  for  two  years  ;  and  in  1874  he  was  voted  $100 
per  month  for  the  next  two  years;  that  was  all  he  ever  got 
from  the  State.  In  1885,  at  the  age  of  73,  he  died  alone  and  in 
poverty.  After  his  death,  in  1887,  the  State,  at  an  expense  of 
$5000,  erected  a  monument  to  his  memory  on  the  spot  where 
he  first  found  the  gold.  Such  is  the  irony  of  fame. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
CHINOOK,  NATIVES,  AND  GAME. 

In  New  Zealand  and  in  Hawaii  the  natives  have  been  deci- 
mated in  a  century;  in  Tasmania  the  aborigines  are  extinct. 
The  disappearance  of  native  races  is  due  in  part  to  the  intro- 
duction by  the  white  man  of  new  diseases  that  attack  the 
natives  with  great  virulence,  and  it  is  traceable  in  part  to 
alcoholism  induced  by  the  excessive  use  of  stimulants  sold  to 
the  natives  by  traders.  The  chief  factor,  however,  in  destroy- 
ing the  vitality  of  the  Maoris,  the  Kanakas,  and  the  Haidas  has 
been  the  imperfect  adaptation  to  a  new  environment  created 
by  the  introduction  of  civilization.  Thus  the  Alaskan  Indian, 
becoming  employed  by  the  white  man  and  earning  wages, 
adopted  the  white  man's  food  without  donning  his  warm 
clothing.  Previously,  the  healthy  savage  had  fed  on  fish  and 
seal-oil,  especially  oil,  which,  on  account  of  its  heating  quality, 
enabled  him  to  withstand  extreme  cold  and  excessive  damp. 
When  he  came  within  the  white  man's  camp  he  bought  cakes, 
biscuits,  hard  tack  or  pilot  bread,  and  similar  non-heating  food. 
That  made  him  less  robust  and  predisposed  him  to  tubercu- 
losis. He  continued  to  wear  a  shirt  and  drawers  made  of  cotton 
cloth,  over  which  he  threw  his  blanket.  When  hunting  he 
wore  moccasins ;  otherwise  his  feet  were  bare.  Nowadays, 
however,  many  of  the  Indians,  especially  around  Sitka,  wear 
the  clothing  of  the  ordinary  white  laborer  and  they  are  the 
healthier  for  it.  By  living  indoors  they  have  become  soft ;  to 
protect  themselves  against  the  effect  of  a  change  in  food,  they 
must  be  better  clothed.  Those  that  do  so,  are  increasing ;  those 
that  accept  part  of  the  gifts  of  civilization  without  its  burdens, 
are  dying  of  lung  trouble.  Westward  and  in  the  northern  in- 


120  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

terior,  among  the  Eskimo,  the  conditions  of  life  are  still  as  they 
were  in  southeastern  Alaska  twenty  years  ago.  When  the 
native  tribes  first  come  in  contact  with  the  advancing  wave  of 
modernism,  they  wilt.  When  they  change  their  clothing  and 
their  dwellings  in  complete  acceptance  of  new  habits  and  con- 
ditions of  life,  they  survive.  It  is  an  interesting  example  of 
natural  selection  as  influenced  by  adaptation  to  environment. 

The  medicine  men  of  the  Thlingits  are  called  shamans,  and 
like  the  priestly  caste  of  other  peoples  they  made  trouble. 
When  chant  or'  hocus-pocus  failed  to  cure  the  sick,  they  de- 
manded the  death  of  another  whom  they  charged  with  be- 
witching the  invalid.  Thus  they  vented  their  spite  on  enemies. 
It  is  related  that  Captain  E.  C.  Merriman  of  the  American 
navy  destroyed  shamanism  in  southeastern  Alaska  by  captur- 
ing some  of  the  shamans,  taking  them  on  board  his  ship,  cut- 
ting off  their  long  sacred  hair,  and  sending  them  bald  to  their 
tribe,  by  whom  they  were  received  with  uproarious  laughter. 
Ridicule  killed  their  black  art. 

In  their  dealings  with  white  men,  the  Indians  speak  Chinook. 
This  is  a  jargon  composed  of  many  tongues.  When  the  roy- 
ageurs  and  coureurs  de  bois  of  French  Canada  traveled  over  the 
wilds  of  the  Northwest,  they  made  acquaintance  with  many 
tribes  of  Indians  speaking  different  languages;  they  also  traded 
with  the  Scotch  factors  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Thus 
they  gradually  gathered  a  composite  speech  containing  words 
of  French  and  English  origin,  as  well  as  sundry  words  picked 
up  from  native  tribes,  such  as  the  Kictatats,  Haidas,  and  Thlin- 
gits. After  a  certain  number  of  mixed  words  had  come  into 
use,  the  Hudson's  Bay  factors  went  to  work  and  developed  this 
lingo,  called  'Chinook,'  so  that  it  might  serve  them  in  dealings 
with  the  various  tribes  from  whom  they  bought  furs  and  fish. 
Chinook  consists  of  about  300  words  and  is  easily  learned;  it 
has  a  vocabulary,  but  no  grammar.  Most  of  the  words  are  cor- 
ruptions. Thus  'siwash'  is  the  general  term  for  Indian  through- 
out the  Northwest:  it  comes  from  saurayp,  just  as  'musher'  is 
corrupted  from  niarrltcur.  'Mush  on'  is  probably  a  corruption 
of  the  French  indrrlintis.  Klalioiryah,  the  native  salutation,  is 
said  to  be  derived  from  "Clark,  how  are  you?"  the  greeting 


CHINOOK,  NATIVES,  AND  GAME. 


121 


given  to  the  old-time  traders.  'Sour  dough'  and  'cheechako' 
are  complementary.  'Sour  dough'  is  the  emblem  of  the  sea- 
soned frontiersman.  Being  unable  to  procure  yeast,  the  pros- 
pector or  woodsman  carries  a  little  can  filled  with  soured  dough- 
batter;  with  this  and  by  the  addition  of  a  little  baking  soda, 
he  starts  the  leavening  of  his  bread,  in  the  form  of  pancakes, 
or  'flapjacks.'  The  men  of  the  North  will  allow  the  lump  of 
sour  dough  to  freeze  and  as  the  stock  is  diminished  they  add 


THE   MUSHER. 


flour  and  water,  mixing  the  mass,  so  that  it  performs  for  them 
the  function  of  yeast.  'Cheechako'  or  'chichaco'  is  probably 
of  Kanaka  origin.  Clil  or  chee  means  'new'  and  cliaco  or  cliako 
means  'to  come';  a  'cheechako'  is  a  newcomer.  The  term  cor- 
responds to  'tenderfoot'  in  the  West  and  'new  chum'  in  Aus- 
tralia. 

Chinook  is  composed  of  derelicts  from  English,  French,  In- 
dian,   and    even    Kanaka.      Long    before    the    Russian    or   the 


122  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

American  controlled  Alaska,  there  was  trade  between  the  Rus- 
sian colonists  and  the  islanders  in  the  South  Seas.  But  that  is 
another  story.  Klootchman  is  the  Chinook  for  native  'woman'; 
in  the  Thlingit  language  it  is  sha-wat.  Skookum  is  the  word  for 
'strength'  of  any  kind;  thus  skookum  tumtum  is  'strong  heart' 
or  'courage';  skookum  sick  means  'very  ill'  or  'about  to  die'; 
skookum  koolie  is  'to  go  fast.'  Koolie  is  probably  from  the  French 
coule,  which  also  appears  in  our  word  'gully.'  Cultus  is  Chi- 
nook for  'worthless.'  If  you  say  a  man  is  'cultus'  you  mean 
he  is  worthless,  a  'waster,'  or  vaurien.  Cultus  wawa  means 
worthless  conversation.  If  you  joke  with  a  native  or  tell  him 
a  story  he  cannot  believe,  he  will  laugh  and  say :  ' '  Cultus 
waica."  As  in  most  primitive  languages,  emphasis  is  obtained 
by  doubling ;  thus  the  Australian  Yarra  Yarra  is  the  aboriginal 
equivalent  of  'ever  flowing.' 

As  an  example  of  the  development  of  local  jargon,  I  quote 
the  expression:  "to  siwash  a  line."  To  explain  it,  I  shall  de- 
scribe an  interesting  bit  of  pioneer  engineering.  The  Alaska 
Treadwell  company  is  building  a  dam  in  the  natural  basin  or 
cirque  two  miles  south  of  the  mine  and  under  the  shadow  of 
Mt.  Jumbo ;  the  dam  is  to  be  60  feet  high  and  will  impound 
240,000,000  gallons  or  34,000,000  cubic  feet  of  water,  sufficient 
to  afford  a  flow  of  200  miner's  inches  for  78  days.  The  area 
to  be  transformed  into  a  reservoir  covers  35  acres.  In  under- 
taking the  construction  of  the  dam,  the  first  thing  was  to  get 
a  donkey-engine  to  pull  logs,  for  the  mossy  nature  of  the 
ground  precluded  the  use  of  horses.  The  machine  consisted  of 
a  horizontal  engine  having  a  9  by  10  inch  cylinder  with  a  ver- 
tical boiler,  both  boiler  and  engine  being  set  on  a  solid  cast- 
iron  base,  placed  upon  a  heavy  sled.  The  sled  was  built  of 
two  16  by  28  inch  timbers,  faced  on  three  sides,  the  bottom 
having  its  original  log  surface.  Each  end  of  these  'runners' 
is  'sniped  off,'  so  as  to  present  a  slanting  point  like  the  prow 
of  a  boat. 

At  first  sight  it  seems  absurb  to  think  of  pulling  such  a 
machine,  weighing  10  tons,  over  the  moss,  morass,  and  rock  of 
a  primeval  sub-arctic  forest.  But  it  was  done,  thus:  A  light 
cable  is  paid  out  to  some  suitable  mooring,  such  as  a  tree,  and 


THLINGIT  WOMEN. 
Photograph  by  Winter  &  Pond,  Jnneau.  Published  by  Permission. 


124  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

then  a  block  is  fastened  to  the  same  hold ;  the  line  is  placed  in 
the  block  and  the  end  of  the  light  line  is  attached  to  the  block 
of  the  heavy  line.  The  donkey-engine  pulls  in  the  light  line, 
thereby  pulling  out  the  heavy  cable ;  the  block  of  the  latter  is 
attached  to  a  tree,  either  the  one  already  in  service  or  a  larger 
one,  or  the  cable  is  even  run  around  two  or  three  trees,  if  a 
single  one  does  not  suffice.  Then  the  engine  pulls  on  the  heavy 
line  and  drags  the  whole  machine  forward;  if  the  gradient 
be  too  heavy,  another  block  is  used,  multiplying  the  mechanical 
advantage.  Thus  the  donkey-engine  pulls  itself  forward.  It 
is  astonishing  to  see  over  what  rough  country  the  engine  on 
the  sled  will  advance — down  into  a  creek-bed,  up  the  steep 
bank,  over  fallen  trees,  through  the  swamp,  across  ditches. 
The  sled  is  40  feet  long  and  8  feet  wide.  The  'donkey'  also 
tows  a  second  sled  on  which  are  placed  provisions,  coal  for  the 
engine,  tools,  extra  rope,  axes,  and  other  necessaries,  the  entire 
load  weighing  fully  30  tons. 

Now  you  will  understand  what  'siwash'  signifies.  When 
a  line  is  passed  around  a  tree,  and  not  through  a  block,  the 
line  is  said  to  be  'siwashed.'  Again,  a  'choker'  is  a  short 
piece  of  cable  at  each  end  such  as  is  wrapped  round  a  tree  to 
hold  a  block.  The  engine  is  called  a  'donkey,'  and  it  performs 
feats  worthy  of  the  patient  'burro'  who  is  the  friend  of  the 
Western  prospector.  But  the  'burro'  is  not  in  fashion  in  the 
Xorth,  he  is  ill  fitted  either  to  traverse  the  tundra  in  summer 
or  the  snow  in  winter ;  moreover,  his  propensity  to  lift  up  his 
voice  in  song  would  not  accord  with  the  spirit  of  the  Arctic 
wild  over  which  a  Great  Silence  broods  eternally. 

Moose  and  caribou  are  plentiful  in  parts  of  Alaska.  The 
caribou  make  an  annual  migration  in  a  vast  herd,  which  has 
been  seen  by  several  men  whom  I  met.  Thus  Angus  Macdonald 
told  me  how  in  the  spring  of  1902,  at  the  head  of  Tombstone 
creek,  he  "rode  through  them  for  a  week."  A  party  of  pros- 
pectors coming  south  from  the  Peel  river  met  the  herd,  which 
was  moving  slowly  northward  while  grazing;  these  men  walked 
within  sight  of  the  caribou  for  six  days.  In  the  spring  they 
go  to  the  Arctic  slope  of  the  northern  mountains  and  in  the 
fall  thev  return  to  British  Columbia.  Smaller  bands  of  30  to 


126 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


60  are  to  be  found  on  the  Mackenzie  range.  When  these  tens 
of  thousands  of  caribou  passed  through  the  Tanana  region  in 
1906  the  miners  shot  them  from  the  doors  of  their  cabins  and 
thus  obtained  a  winter  supply  of  fresh  meat. 

Soon  after  leaving  Forty-Mile  we  saw  a  bear  swimming 
the  Yukon.  Of  other  large  wild  animals  seen  in  the  course  of 
the  journey,  the  whales  were  the  most  noteworthy.  On  the  re- 
turn from  Sitka  to  Juneau,  as  we  stood  on  the  deck  of  the 
Georgia,  which  was  steaming  through  Sergius  strait,  a  narrow 
waterway,  we  saw  the  fountain  made  by  a  spouting  whale. 
Passing  close  to  him,  we  noted  that  he  was  about  45  feet  long, 


MOOSE   SWIMMING. 

and  as  he  sped  through  the  water  alongside,  rising  at  intervals 
to  'sound,'  we  could  see  the  barnacles  clinging  to  his  snout  and 
tail.  Every  time  he  sounded  he  made  a  whistling  noise  like 
the  wire-drawn  exhaust  of  a  large  compressor,  the  air  and 
water  shot  upward  and  the  dark  bulk  dived  beneath  the  water, 
leaving  the  big  tail  fanning  the  air  as  he  disappeared,  to  re- 
appear in  half  a  minute.  This  young  leviathan  was  proceeding 
slowly,  evidently  feeding  on  herring,  a  shoal  of  which  was 
swimming  through  Sergius  strait. 

The  law  prohibits  the  killing  of  game  in  spring.    This  would 


CHINOOK,  NATIVES,  AND  GAME. 


127 


be  proper  enough  in  most  regions,  but  in  the  distant  portions 
of  Alaska  the  prohibition  is  a  hardship  because  the  spring  is 
the  very  time  when  supplies  of  meat  and  foodstuffs  of  every 


THE   MOOSE-HUNTER. 


kind  are  apt  to  run  short  among  prospectors  and  explorers.  It 
should  be  legal  to  kill  game  for  food  at  any  time.  At  Fair- 
banks, in  winter,  moose  sells  for  30  cents  per  pound ;  beef,  for 
45  to  75  cents.  On  the  other  hand,  head-hunters,  killing  ani- 


128 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


mals  for  decorative  use  in  Chicago  and  New  York,  ought  to  be 
summarily  suppressed. 

The  Alaskan  Indian  so  much  resembles  the  Japanese,  and 
the  distance  from  the  Seward  Peninsula  to  Northeast  Siberia 
is  so  short — only  36  miles  across  Bering  strait — that  a  racial 
origin  is  readily  suggested.  The  Kuro  Siwo  or  Japanese  cur- 
rent touches  so  close  to  the  shores  of  Queen  Charlotte  island 
that  it  has  been  suggested  that  junks  from  over  the  sea  may 


WHEN   WIND    HELPED   MUSCLE. 


have   been   stranded   there   in   those   forgotten   centuries   when 
the  Japanese  built  sea-going  vessels  and  traveled  afar. 

Speaking  of  Japanese,  I  am  reminded  of  that  Alaskan 
celebrity  Jurio  Wadda.  He  is  the  great  'musher. '  a  redoubt- 
able explorer,  and  an  indomitable  adventurer,  giving  that  word 
both  its  modern  meaning  and  the  more  honorable  older  one. 
In  Cornwall  the  shareholders  in  mines  were  called  'adventur- 
ers,' that  is,  they  were  the  persons  who  shared  in  the  venture; 
and  even  to  this  day  the  president  and  shareholders  of  a  his- 


CHINOOK,  NATIVES,  AND  GAME. 


129 


toric  enterprise  are  called  to  annual  meeting  under  the  name 
of  "the  Governor  and  Company  of  Adventurers  of  England 
trading  into  Hudson's  Bay."  Wadda  is  not  so  grand  as  all 
that,  but  he  is  a  good  deal  of  a  man.  His  expedition  to  Her- 
schel  island  is  proof  sufficient.  AVith  his  dog-team  and  sled  he 
went  from  Nome  to  Cape  Prince  of  Wales,  thence  round  the 
Arctic  coast  to  Cape  Blossom,  on  to  Point  Barrow,  and  so  to 


MINING  ON   CHICHAGOFF   ISLAND. 

Herschel  island.  A  glance  at  the  map  will  indicate  the  dis- 
tance covered.  He  wras  32  days  making  the  last  stage  of  this 
journey  from  Point  Barrow  to  the  island,  and  for  those  32  days 
he  traveled  continuously.  A  little  bell-shaped  tent  was  his  only 
cover;  in  his  team  were  nine  dogs,  but  they  were  never  un- 
hooked from  the  tow-line  or  unharnessed  during  those  32  days. 
Then  he  'mushed'  from  Herschel  island  to  a  point  90  miles  east 
of  the  Mackenzie  river,  trying  to  find  the  position  of  a  gold  dis- 
coverv  the  news  of  which  he  had  obtained  from  the  natives. 


130  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Returning  to  Herschel  island,  he  started  back  to  Nome.  The 
season  was  near  its  close,  and  six  days  from  Point  Barrow  he 
fonnd  himself  without  food;  he  cut  the  seal  lashings  on  his  sled 
and  the  seal  'mukluks'  on  his  feet,  and  fed  them  to  the  dogs. 
Leaving  Point  Barrow,  where  food  was  obtained  from  the  Es- 
kimo, he  worked  his  way  as  far  as  Point  Hope  and  then  in  an 
oomiak  or  skin-boat  he  paddled  to  Cape  Blossom,  where  he 
caught  the  steamer  C'oru-in  for  Nome. 

When  one  hears  the  true  stories  of  the  feats  of  travel  over 
ice  and  snow  accomplished  by  the  unrecorded  heroes  of  these 
frontier  mining  camps,  the  much  advertised  expeditions  of 
scientific-newspaper  enterprise  seems  hollow  shows.  Tf  any 
millionaire  wants  to  see  his  house-flag  placed  on  the  North 
Pole,  I  would  advise  him  to  engage  Wadda,  Scotty  Allen,  Louis 
Lane,  Sp  >rt  Smith,  John  Hignes,  Hart  Humber,  and  Clarence 
Hawkins.  These  are  the  men  to  get  there;  when  they  return 
they  can  engage  Peary  and  Nansen  to  deliver  the  necessary 
lectures  and  submit  to  the  requisite  interviews  in  their  stead. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
SKAGWAY. 

Alaska  holds  much  beauty,  but  also  ugliness  enough  to  force 
a  contrast.  Skagway  or  Skaguay,  as  it  is  variously  spelled,  is 
the  scrap-heap  of  creation.  As  the  steamer  turns  from  Lynn 
Canal  and  approaches  this  terminal  point  in  a  voya  ;e  of  ex- 
ceeding beauty,  the  charred  forest  on  the  right  suggests  the 
devastating  hand  of  man,  heretofore  so  notably  absent.  Long 
wharves,  ugly  cattle-pens,  and  empty  warehouses  bespeak  the 
activity  of  the  past.  A  Sabbath  quiet  reigns,  as  if  to  compen- 
sate for  the  most  unholy  doings  of  the  boom  days.  Skagway 
was  then  the  place  to  'take  a  drink'  and  'mush  on.'  The  first 
was  easiest,  and  most  favored  by  the  wayfarer.  East  of  the 
wretched  settlement  rises  a  ridge  the  face  of  which  is  painted 
with  garish  advertisements  and  cabalistic  signs.  The  tide  is 
out ;  the  flats,  wide  and  long,  are  covered  with  noisome  sea- 
weed through  which  the  creek  finds  a  dreary  way.  Four  long 
weather-beaten  spindle-legged  piers,  lightly  braced,  reach  from 
the  town  to  the  warehouses,  which  are  clad  in  corrugated  iron. 
The  railroad  clings  to  the  base  of  the  east  cliff.  All  the  frothy 
gaiety  of  Skagway  is  gone.  The  town  is  an  ungainly  collection 
of  shanties,  mostly  saloons  and  gambling  houses,  now  out  of 
business.  A  few  good  stores  and  a  cheerful  group  of  offices 
bespeak  steamship  and  railway  transport,  and  suggest  that  the 
traveler  at  least  can  get  away  without  loss  of  time. 

'  Skag-waugh '  is  the  Indian  for  cruel  wind ;  the  natives  were 
afraid  of  the  icy  blast  that  blew  down  the  canyon  from  the 
White  Pass.  Many  a  man  must  have  shivered  as  he  landed 
from  the  steamer  and  looked  at  that  cold  gray  landscape  where 


132  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

in  the  distance  the  savage  peaks  beckoned  to  hidden  gold  in 
the  unknown  wilds  of  the  mysterious  North. 

Skagway  is  associated  with  the  doings  of  Soapy  Smith,  a 
desperado  who  terrorized  the  trail  to  the  Klondike  at  the  time 
of  the  rush,  at  the  end  of  1897  and  in  the  succeeding  year.  He 
was  killed  on  July  8,  1898.  His  name  was  Jefferson  Randolph 
Smith,  a  man  of  ordinary  education,  but  possessed  of  extraor- 
dinary cunning  and  unflinching  nerve.  At  one  time  he  was  a 
newspaper  reporter  in  Georgia,  and  he  had  operated  in  con- 
fidence games  all  over  the  West,  especially  in  Colorado,  be- 
coming prominent  at  Creede  in  1891.  His  sobriquet  originated 
from  a  scheme  for  selling  soap ;  in  one  of  the  packages  of  soap 
sold  by  him  he  placed  a  $5  bill ;  this  always  went  to  a  confed- 
erate, but  the  chance  of  getting  it  would  excite  the  cupidity 
of  simpletons,  who  bought  5  cents  worth  of  soap  for  50  cents 
in  the  hope  of  getting  5  dollars.  Soapy  Smith  began  opera- 
tions at  Skagway  in  July  1897.  He  had  an  organized  gang  of 
desperadoes  who  worked  under  his  direction.  They  did  not 
attack  well  known  men,  citizens  of  the  town,  or  anyone  capable 
of  prosecuting  them  in  case  of  assault.  Their  depredations 
were  restricted  to  'tenderfeet, '  to  greenhorns,  to  those  who 
were  friendless  and  alone.  Violence  Avas  avoided,  as  far  as 
possible;  the  plan  usually  was  to  excite  cupidity  by  a  'shell' 
game,  by  roulette  wheels  that  were  mechanically  'fixed,'  by 
picking  pockets,  by  inciting  a  fracas  or  'rough  house.'  and  by 
making  their  victim  drunk. 

For  instance,  a  man  named  Stuart,  who  wras  the  first  to 
come  out  of  Dawson  in  the  spring  of  1898,  carried  $2600  in 
gold  'dust.'  He  placed  his  gold  in  the  safe  of  a  merchant  at 
Skagway  and  then  went  to  Soapy 's  saloon.  There  he  entered 
into  conversation  with  Tripp,  one  of  Soapy 's  men,  the  leader 
himself  never  appearing  on  the  scene.  Tripp  played  the  part 
of  a  newcomer,  and  told  Stuart  that  he  had  not  seen  any  Klon- 
dike gold;  would  Stuart  show  some  of  it  to  him?  So  Stuart 
went  to  get  the  sack  of  gold,  and  on  his  return  to  the  saloon 
a  play  was  enacted  for  his  benefit.  Some  other  men  were  gam- 
bling with  a  stupid  fellow,  who  was  losing  money  right  and 
left.  This  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  Stuart  and  he  was 


134  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

persuaded  by  the  confederates  that  a  chance  'to  make  easy 
money'  was  offered.  Thus  Stuart  was  induced  to  make  a  small 
bet,  necessitating  the  opening  of  his  'poke'  or  sack.  Then, 
somehow — but  no  one  knew  why — there  was  a  rumpus  and  a 
fight ;  Stuart  was  elbowed  out  of  the  back  door,  and  when  the 
excitement  wras  over  he  hastened  back  to  the  saloon  only  to  find 
that  everyone  had  decamped,  and  with  them  his  'dust.'  Tripp 
and  others  who  were  present  swore  to  the  deputy  marshall  that 
Stuart  had  lost  his  money  by  betting. 

This  incident  led  people  to  realize  that  unless  Smith  was 
driven  out  of  Skagway  all  the  trade  incidental  to  the  stam- 
pede would  go  to  Dyea  or  to  St.  Michael.  The  robbery  occurred 
at  11  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  July  8,  1898.  A  mass  meeting 
was  called  for  8  o'clock  that  night  at  Sylvester's  store,  and  the 
attendance  being  too  large  for  the  store,  the  meeting  was  ad- 
journed to  the  wharf  at  the  foot  of  State  street.  It  was  broad 
daylight.  Soapy  Smith  and  a  number  of  his  fellow  ruffians 
went  toward  the  place  of  meeting  in  the  hope  of  creating  a 
disturbance  and  dispersing  the  crowd  before  it  had  determined 
upon  a  plan  of  action.  Frank  II.  Reid,  a  civil  engineer,  and 
two  or  three  others  had  been  appointed  to  guard  the  approach 
to  the  wharf  and  prevent  any  of  Smith's  men  from  getting  into 
the  meeting.  When  Smith  approached  Reid,  the  latter  said: 
"You  can't  go  down  there.  Smith."  To  which  the  latter  re- 
plied :  "Damn  you,  Reid,  you  have  been  at  the  bottom  of  all  my 
troubles.  If  I  had  got  rid  of  you  three  months  ago.  I  would 
never  have  had  this  trouble."  He  then  started  to  club  Reid 
with  his  rifle,  but  Reid  caught  hold  of  the  rifle  with  his  left 
hand  and  pulled  a  revolver  with  his  right.  The  revolver  failed 
to  go  off  and  Smith  managed  to  point  the  rifle  downward, 
pulling  the  trigger,  and  wounding  Reid  fatally  in  the  groin. 
But  before  he  fell  Reid  also  managed  to  pull  his  trigger  a  sec- 
ond time  and  shot  Smith  through  the  heart.  Smith  had  ex- 
claimed a  second  earlier:  "Don't  shoot!"  lie  was  killed  in- 
stantly. In  his  pocket  was  found  a  note  reading:  "The  crowd 
is  angry,  if  you  want  to  do  anything,  do  it  quick."  This  was 
signed  with  the  initial  *S,  and  was  identified  as  the  handwriting 
of  W.  F.  Saportas,  a  correspondent  of  the  New  York  World. 


136 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


well  fitted  to  represent  an  infamous  newspaper — the  predeces- 
sor of  the  yellow  journals  that  disgrace  America  today.  Reid 
lived  for  ten  days.  A  monument  to  his  memory  was  erected 
by  the  people  of  the  town  and  on  it  was  engraved:  "He  died 
for  the  honor  of  Skagway." 

The  rest  of  Smith's  gang  took  to  the  hills.  Most  of  them 
surrendered  through  stress  of  starvation.  Among  these  was 
Tripp.  The  committee  of  citizens  ordered  35  persons  out  of 
town,  including  Dr.  J.  Allan  Hornsby,  editor  of  the  Daily 
Alaskan,  also  Saportas.  sundry  barkeepers,  thugs,  and  so  forth; 
18  were  held  for  action  by  the  Grand  Jury ;  of  these  9  were 
sentenced  to  the  penitentiary,  on  evidence  and  confession.  It 
is  only  just  to  add  that  Dr.  Hornsby  protested  his  innocence 
from  the  beginning  and  after  the  excitement  had  subsided  he 
returned  to  Skagway,  becoming  employed  as  a  physician  in 
the  hospital  service  of  the  White  Pass  &  Yukon  Route.  This 
indicates  the  favorable  opinion  of  the  railroad  officials. 


I,OIII\O;    A    FISHING    VII, LACK 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  STAMPEDE  TO  DAWSON. 

Skagway  is  the  portal  of  the  Yukon.  From  the  wharf  the 
rails  of  the  White  Pass  &  Yukon  River  route  lead  up  the  valley 
and  over  the  White  Pass,  thence  down  the  watershed  of  the 
Yukon  to  White  Horse,  where  steamers  start  for  Dawson.  The 
summit  of  the  pass  is  20  miles  from  Lynn  Canal  and  2886  ft. 
above  tide-water ;  it  is  111  miles  by  rail  from  Skagway  to  White 
Horse,  and  460  miles  by  the  river  from  White  Horse  to  Dawson. 

At  Skagway  the  traveler  hears  much  concerning  the  great 
stampede  to  the  Klondike,  and,  if  observant,  he  will  see  many 
mementos  of  that  remarkable  episode.  I  went  by  train  to  the 
summit  of  the  White  Pass,  and  then  walked  down  the  old  trail, 
so  as  to  obtain  a  nearer  view  of  the  path  over  which  the  gold- 
seekers  trudged  at  the  time  of  the  big  rush. 

The  railroad  and  the  trail  both  ascend  the  gravel-strewn 
valley  of  the  Skagway  river;  when  the  latter  forks,  the  trail 
takes  the  west  branch,  while  the  railroad  makes  a  big  loop  up 
the  east  branch  before  re-joining  the  path  of  the  Klondikers. 
The  old  trail  is  partly  obliterated  by  the  Brackett  road.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  rush,  in  the  winter  of  1897-98,  George  A. 
Brackett  built  a  wagon-road  as  far  as  White  Pass  City,  10 
miles  from  Skagway.  The  toll  was  one  cent  per  pound.  By 
filing  his  maps  in  the  Recorder's  office  he  secured  the  right  to 
charge  toll,  but  it  was  not  collected  without  an  occasional 
fight.  Brackett  built  two  or  three  gates  along  the  route,  hop- 
ing to  control  the  migration,  but  the  packers  would  combine 
and  rush  these  gates.  Thereupon,  he  employed  armed  guards, 
and  some  shooting  ensued.  It  was  claimed  that  Brackett 
blocked  the  old  trail  at  the  foot  of  the  canvon  above  White 


138  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Pass  City ;  this  caused  bitter  feeling,  but  it  did  not  last  long, 
for  the  railroad  company  bought  his  rights.  Grading  began 
in  May  1898,  and  the  railroad  was  built  to  the  summit  by  Janu- 
ary 20,  1899 ;  to  Lake  Bennett  on  July  6,  1899 ;  and  to  White 
Horse  on  July  31,  1900. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  creek  a  couple  of  log-cabins  mark 
former  outposts  of  Soapy  Smith.  It  is  estimated  that  from  75 
to  80  men  were  murdered  by  this  desperado  and  his  gang,  the 
victims  being  thrown  into  the  icy  waters  of  the  estuary.  At 
the  12-mile  post  a  splendid  cascade  is  seen  in  a  canyon  oppo- 
site. Here  the  railroad  begins  a  sweeping  curve  to  the  station 
called  Glacier.  The  brown  pile  of  debris  just  above  the  track 
marks  the  moraine  of  a  glacier  that  reaches  from  the  cirque 
on  the  right.  From  this  point  the  railroad  is  cut  into  the  face 
of  a  precipitous  slope;  approaching  a  tunnel  the  track  crosses 
a  high  wooden  trestle  from  which  a  splendid  view  is  obtained 
of  snowy  mountains,  then  the  vista  framed  by  the  walls  of  the 
canyon,  and  a  glimpse  of  Lynn  Canal  at  the  far  end.  Near  the 
head  of  the  White  Pass  the  train  swings  round  a  curve,  the 
track  passing  over  a  high  steel  trestle  with  concrete  piers.  The 
old  trail  can  be  seen  threading  the  bush-covered  slope  on  the 
other  side  of  the  gully. 

The  best  outlook  is  from  Inspiration  Point,  just  beyond 
the  big  curve  at  Glacier.  The  view  is  clown  the  canyon  to 
Lynn  Canal.  On  the  right  is  the  rough  and  rocky  shoulder  of 
a  mountain,  bare  save  for  moss,  being  above  timber-line;  on 
the  left  is  the  straggling  upper  limit  of  forest  growth,  then 
come  glaciated  granite  bosses,  bearing  patches  of  snow,  which 
merge  into  snowfields  and  mist-covered  summits.  Looking 
down  the  canyon,  the  sunlight  plays  on  the  bright  verdure  of 
the  Alaskan  highlands,  the  stream  appears  as  a  broken  silver 
thread  amid  brush  and  rocks,  the  dark  perspective  of  the  val- 
ley leads  to  a  sunlit  space  of  water  where  Lynn  Canal,  like  an 
enchanted  lake,  sleeps  under  the  frowning  ramparts  of  the 
coast  range.  Beyond  is  mist,  broken  by  shafts  of  light,  and 
the  cold  breath  of  an  air  more  akin  to  the  bitter  tragedy  of 
fact  than  the  warm  romance  in  which  the  search  for  gold  is 
wrapped. 


140  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

I  left  the  train  at  the  Summit  station  and  followed  the 
old  trail  down  the  canyon.  This  was  the  highway  of  those 
excited  Argonauts  who  scrambled  toward  the  Pactolus  of  the 
Yukon  in  the  winter  of  1897  and  the  spring  of  1898.  The  trail 
is  not  steep,  it  requires  none  of  the  skill  of  a  mountaineer ; 
indeed,  the  ascent  from  Skagway  to  the  summit  of  the  White 
Pass  can  be  described  as  a  good  long  walk,  with  a  rise  of  less 
than  3000  feet  in  16  miles.  The  other  pass,  at  Dyea,  which  is 
in  the  next  valley  to  the  west,  was  much  steeper,  especially 
close  to  the  summit. 

The  trail  descends  gently  to  the  meeting  of  two  rivulets, 
where,  on  a  small  flat,  was  the  site  of  White  Pass  City.  This 
served  as  a  relay  station ;  firewood  and  water  were  handy,  and 
being  at  the  timber-line,  it  was  the  last  place  for  a  convenient 
camp.  Ten  years  ago  1500  to  2000  people  congregated  at 
White  Pass  City  in  tents,  log-cabins,  shanties,  and  improvised 
shelters.  Drinking,  dancing,  and  gambling  shamed  the  night 
and  mocked  the  day.  Many  a  young  and  healthy  man  suc- 
cumbed to  perils  more  trying  than  fatigue  and  more  deadly 
than  the  snow.  It  was  the  mockery  of  the  romance  of  mining, 
a  sordid  debauchery,  an  unveiled  licentiousness,  the  procurers 
of  which  were  Soapy  Smith  and  his  gang  of  ruffians.  Not 
much  remains  of  White  Pass  City ;  half  a  dozen  log-cabins  and 
the  frames  of  a  dozen  unsubstantial  structures  bespeak  the 
wreckage  of  a  frontier  settlement.  The  largest  of  the  shaky 
buildings  was  a  dance-hall ;  it  is  now  invaded  by  alder  bushes, 
and  alongside  the  doorway  the  humble  gooseberry  grows  con- 
fidently. The  \vreck  of  an  old  sled  is  wreathed  in  blossoms  of 
elderberry.  In  front  of  what  evidently  was  a  store,  a  pair  of 
scales  and  some  bottles  lie  untidily.  A  delapidated  dwelling, 
with  the  sign  'Hotel'  hanging  loosely,  suggests  the  mob  of  ad- 
venturers and  harlots  that  gathered  there  not  long  ago.  And 
yet  the  spot  has  more  than  ordinary  beauty.  Kingsley  spoke  of 
"ancient  and  holy  things"  that  "fade  to  the  earth  again": 
fortunately,  the  unholy  things  decay  even  more  rapidly.  White 
Pass  City  and  its  inhabitants  are  gone,  leaving  few  traces,  in- 
sufficient to  soil  the  face  of  Nature.  It  is  a  picturesque  spot 
where  several  cascades  meet  joyously;  the  confident  curve  of 


142 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


the  railroad  belts  the  hillslope  in  front :  and  far  overhead  noble 
peaks  look  down  in  eternal  calm ;  the  air  is  perfumed  with 
blossom,  the  murmur  of  the  stream  is  soothing,  the  sunlight 
suffuses  the  lush  grass.  Man's  unrest  is  petty  indeed  in  con- 
trast to  Nature's  imperturbability. 

The  motto  of  Alaska  is.  'Mush  on!'  In  the  North  that  is 
what  the  mother  says  to  her  child,  the  man  to  his  dogs,  the 
barkeeper  to  the  drunken  loafer:  that  is  what  destiny  says 


WHITE    PASS   CITY.      ON   THE   THAU.  TO   THE    KLONDIKE. 

to  Alaska.  It  was  the  watchword  of  the  stampede  that  startled 
civili/ation  when  the  gold  began  to  come  from  the  Klondike 
diggings.  To  'mush'  is  to  walk:  the  word  is  derived  from 
the  French  nmirlii'r  and  was  brought  into  the  Northwest  by  the 
ninrp.urs  tie  hois  and  the  rdi/itf/curn  from  Quebec  and  New  Orleans. 
The  crowd  that  crossed  the  passes  during  the  excitement  of 
181)8  wen-  'mushers, '  not  mountaineers:  they  were  gold-hunters 
from  the  cities,  not  prospectors;  they  were  'cheechakos'  of  the 
greenest  kind.  Hence  their  troubles.  If  the  unholy  pilgrim- 


144  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

age  to  Dawson  was  marked  by  the  horrors  of  death  aud  pri- 
vation, it  was  due  largely  to  the  inexperience  of  the  pilgrims, 
and  also  to  the  exaggerations  of  the  scribes  who  snatched  an 
ephemeral  fame  by  misinforming  a  credulous  public.  For  in- 
stance, Harry  De  Windt  crossed  the  Chilkoot  pass  in  1896  on 
his  way— theatrically  speaking — "from  New  York  for  Paris 
by  land,"  and  in  the  inevitable  book  he  submits  a  picture  of 
the  pass  by  which  he  crossed  the  range;  it  is  represented  as  a 
precipice,  having  a  slope  of  65  to  80°.  A  man  cannot  walk 
up  a  slope  of  40°.  This  highly  imaginative  illustration* 
based  upon  the  memories,  and  exaggerations,  of  an  irrespon- 
sible author,  affords  a  good  example  of  the  way  in  which 
the  passage  over  the  coast  range  was  made  to  appear  a  tre- 
mendous feat  of  mountaineering.  As  a  matter  of  fact  all  of 
the  passes  were  ascended  by  men  ignorant  of  mountaineering 
and  loaded  with  heavy  packs;  even  the  Chilkoot  has  been 
crossed  by  cattle,  and  horses ;  any  one  of  the  ascents  would 
constitute  a  pleasant  excursion  for  men  accustomed  to  the 
mountains  and  unburdened  with  the  supplies  needed  by  the 
prospector  on  his  wray  to  diggings  five  or  six  hundred  miles 
distant.  The  horrors  of  the  White  Pass  and  the  Dyea  trails 
were  due  to  the  unintelligent  scramble  of  a  mob  eager  to  reach 
the  scene  of  gold  discovery.  Men  from  the  cities,  unused  to 
open-air  life,  unaccustomed  to  packing,  wholly  ignorant  of  how 
to  take  care  of  themselves,  in  a  frenzy  to  reach  Eldorado,  were 
bound  to  get  into  trouble  on  a  rough  trail  crowded  by  others 
like  unto  themselves.  The  'rush'  was  composed  largely  of 
people  unfitted  by  physique  or  temperament  for  the  hardships 
of  the  frontier.  It  was  a  mob  of  inexperienced  men;  there  was 
no  directing  head,  no  organization;  if  properly  organized  un- 
der experienced  leaders,  the  whole  of  the  feverish  migration 

*  Wrong  ideas  concerning  the  steepness  of  the  ascent  along  the 
trails  are  induced  through  the  foreshortening  of  the  line  of  slope  and 
also  by  views  of  declivities,  the  angle  of  which  is  exaggerated  by  the 
cutting  of  the  photographic  print  so  that  a  false  base  is  made.  Men 
walking  up  a  gentle  slope  can  thus  be  made  to  appear  climbing  a 
precipice. 


THE  STAMPEDE  TO  DAWSON. 


145 


might  have  been  effected  with  a  fraction  of  the  labor  spent 
and  the  hardships  endured. 

During  the  winter  of  1897  not  less  than  33,000  men  and 
women  passed  through  Skagway  on  their  way  to  Dawson  over 
the  trails  of  Dyea  and  the  White  Pass.  Owing  to  their  in- 
ability to  transfer  their  outfit  across  the  range  after  the  snow 
had  fallen,  thousands  of  men  were  stalled  at  Skagway,  Dyea, 


THE   STAMPEDE.      OX   THE   CHILKOOT   PASS. 

and  White  Pass  City.  These  small  settlements  became  badly 
congested.  The  conditions  of  living  were  wretched ;  dissipa- 
tion, poor  food,  excitement,  and  inadequate  clothing  combined 
to  decimate  the  mad  throng  of  gold-seekers.  In  April  1898. 
42  were  killed  by  a  snowslide  on  the  Dyea  trail.  During  the 
winter  46  died  of  spinal  meningitis,  due  to  over-exertion  and 
exposure.  Many  young  men  from  decent  homes  were  victim- 
ized; they  found  a  "wide  open  town,"  with  saloons,  dance- 


}_j.(j  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

halls,  and  gambling-dens  at  high  tide ;  they  easily  went  wrong, 
spending  their  stake-money.  These  never  reached  Eldorado, 
although  many  crossed  that  far  range  from  which  no  traveler 
returns. 

The  difficulties  of  the  Klondiker  arose  from  the  need  of 
carrying  supplies  on  his  back.  The  first  and  last  method 
of  transport  is  human  porterage  or  'packing.'  In  a  new  coun- 
try like  Alaska,  where  vehicular  traffic  does  not  exist,  where 
railways  are  rarely  available,  where  roads  are  scarce  and 
trails  are  poor,  the  load  on  a  man's  back  often  represents 
all  his  possessions,  including  provisions  and  tools.  It  is  true 
that  navigation  on  the  rivers,  effected  in  shallow  boats  and 
punts,  serves  to  facilitate  exploration,  but  even  where  rivers 
give  access  to  the  interior,  the  end  of  the  journey,  with  many 
interruptions,  is  sure  to  be  marked  by  a  'portage.' 

To  all  men  it  is  hateful  to  do  the  work  of  a  beast  of  burden, 
and  only  the  'old  hands'  will  do  it  with  equanimity.  The 
'packing'  killed  newcomers  at  the  time  of  the  big  rush.  But 
it  is  a  truism  that  men  will  get  used  to  almost  anything.  The 
'old  timers'  spent  all  summer  packing  'grub'  for  the  winter; 
for  example,  Joe  Barrette  told  me  how  he  wrent  up  the  Sixty- 
Mile  river  in  '93;  he  went  to  Miller  creek,  which  is  125  miles 
from  the  Yukon,  on  foot,  prospecting  on  his  way:  he  carried 
an  average  load  of  100  pounds  and  made  20  miles  per  day. 
Some  men  carry  125  to  130  pounds  habitually.  Barrette  and 
his  partner  made  $300  apiece  by  'rocking'  the  river  bars  on 
their  way  to  Miller  creek.  Again,  John  Flygar.  now  at  Fair- 
banks, related  how  he  hauled  1000  pounds  on  a  sled  from  Fort 
Yukon  to  the  Birch  ('reek  diggings,  completing  the  150  miles 
in  20  days.  lie  did  it  in  three  relays;  thus  he  was  compelled 
to  walk  the  entire  distance  five  times,  his  sled  being  loaded 
three  times,  and  empty  twice.  In  consequence  he  tramped  750 
miles  in  the  20  days.  This  meant  from  10  to  11  hours  of  'mush- 
ing. '  The  road  was  well  traveled,  having  been  used  for  haul- 
ing during  the  previous  winter.  This  was  in  April  1898.  In 
1899  many  men  walked  down  the  river  from  Dawson  to  Nome, 
a  distance  of  1117  miles.  In  1898  the  Canadian  government 
passed  a  bill  to  prevent  ill-equipped  persons  from  entering  the 


THE  STAMPEDE  TO  DAWSOX. 


147 


Yukon  Territory;  by  this  law  each  person  must  have  1100 
pounds  of  supplies,  or  more  than  enough  for  one  year.  Two 
pounds  per  day  is  deemed  an  adequate  ration ;  one  pound  of 
meat  and  one  pound  of  bread. 

At  the  time  of  the  rush  the  outfit  of  the  Klondiker  averaged 
nearly  2000  pounds,  or  one  ton.  Some  of  them  packed  50  to 
100  pounds  at  a  time,  making  numerous  trips;  others  pulled  a 
sled,  carrying  200  pounds.  With  a  harness  over  his  shoulders, 
tugging  a  sled  heavily  loaded,  with  eyes  bulging  out,  sweating, 


THK    LINE    OF    STAMPEDEUS. 


swearing,  excited,  the  'musher'  would  advance  a  few  miles  and 
deposit  his  load.  While  he  returned  for  more,  his  partner 
stood  on  guard.  Usually  the  Klondikers  worked  in  parties  of 
two  or  three,  taking  weeks  or  even  months  before  they  reached 
the  summit  of  the  pass.  After  a  day  of  unremitting  feverish 
toil,  these  men  would  come  back  either  to  a  green  log-cabin  or 
a  flimsy  tent.  This  was  dangerous,  although  it  was  not  un- 
usually cold  that  winter,  the  worst  being  5°  below  in  February 
1898.  Nevertheless,  the  incoming  'tenderfeet'  suffered  se- 


148  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

verely,  while  the  seasoned  'sour-doughs'  returning  from  Daw- 
son  were  'mushing'  with  a  temperature  of  -50°,  sleeping  in 
tents,  and  doing  nicely.  The  trails  in  the  valley  were  mired 
by  the  constant  traffic  and  a  single  path  in  the  snow  limited 
progress  to  the  speed  of  the  slowest  in  the  long  file  of  trudging 
humanity.  No  man  who  now  travels  up  the  White  Pass  in  a 
comfortable  railroad  train  can  have  any  idea  of  the  hardships 
endured  unless  he  has  seen  something  of  the  kind  in  other 
gold-rushes. 

One  young  fellow  'packed'  the  1500  to  2000  pounds  con- 
stituting his  outfit  from  Dyea  over  the  Chilkoot  pass  to  Lake 
Lindeman,  where  he  built  a  boat.  Going  down  the  rapids  to 
Lake  Bennett,  he  ran  against  a  rock  and  lost  everything. 
Thereupon  he  walked  back  to  Skagway  and  procured  another 
outfit  which  he  carried,  as  before,  over  the  pass.  Having  built 
another  boat,  he  descended  the  rapids,  struck  the  very  same 
rock,  and  was  wrecked.  Going  ashore,  he  blew  out  his  brains. 

A  more  cheerful  tale  is  that  of  a  Klondiker  who  bought  a 
newspaper  at  Lake  Bennett.  This  newspaper  contained  an 
account  of  the  naval  battle  at  Manila.  On  arrival  at  Dawson 
the  paper  was  sold  for  10  ounces  of  gold,  equivalent  to  $160, 
and  that  seemed  an  excellent  trade,  for  it  had  cost  only  50 
cents.  The  last  purchaser  immediately  rented  a  hall  and 
charged  $1  admission  to  those  who  came  to  hear  him  read  the 
description  of  Dewey's  great  victory;  he  cleared  ''better 
than"  a  thousand  dollars. 

Mules  and  horses  were  used  in  packing.  Since  the  men  took 
so  little  care  of  themselves,  it  was  unlikely  that  they  would 
show  any  consideration  for  animals;  and  they  did  not.  The 
death-rate  among  the  horses  was  frightful:  it  is  estimated  that 
2500  of  them  died  on  this  side  of  the  summit  during  the  fall 
of  1897.  Angelo  Ileilprin,  who  crossed  in  July  1898,  records 
counting  more  than  a  thousand  rotting  carcasses,  the  stench 
from  which  made  travel  over  the  White  Pass  unbearable. 

The  Indians  helped  the  gold-seekers.  These  wretched-look- 
ing natives  had  made  a  business  of  packing  long  before  the 
rush.  .7.  E.  Spurr.  who  crossed  the  Chilkoot  pass  in  189b',  paid 
the  Indians  7  cents  per  pound  for  carrying  his  outfit,  and  he 


THE  STAMPEDE  TO  DAWSOX. 


149 


makes  note  concerning  the  toughness  of  the  Chilkoots,  who  car- 
ried from  125  to  160  pounds  apiece  over  the  rough  trail  a  dis- 
tance of  13  miles  and  yet  at  the  end  of  the  carry  only  rested 
an  hour  before  returning  to  Sheep  Camp.  On  the  Dyea  trail 
the  Indians  charged  10  to  15  cents  per  pound  for  packing  the 
50  miles.  The  ascent  to  the  pass  is  gentle  except  on  the  immedi- 


ON  THE   SUMMIT  OF   THE   CHILKOOT   PASS. 


ate  approach  to  the  summit,  where,  at  the  Stone  House  (a  big 
boulder  beside  the  trail),  it  is  very  steep  for  about  a  mile. 

"So  steep  the  hill  the  leg  was  fain, 
Assistance  from  the  hand  to  gain." 

An  Indian  buck  would  pack  100  to  140  pounds;  a  squaw 
80  to  100;  girls  and  boys,  from  25  to  65  pounds  apiece.  The 
portage  from  Dyea  to  the  foot  of  Lake  Lindeman  was  done  in 
12  to  15  hours.  On  the  steep  pitch  the  pack  is  divided  in  two. 
White  men  have  been  known  to  carry  150  pounds,  with  a  pick 
or  shovel  extra,  as  'trimmings.' 

During  the  rush  one  man  cut  steps  in  the  snow  for  150  feet 


]_50  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

near  the  top  of  the  Dyea  trail.  He  and  a  hired  man  worked 
for  one  night  only.  They  collected  a  voluntary  toll  from  the 
'mushers'  and  made  from  $80  to  $100  per  day  for  about  six 
weeks.  Then  this  enterprising  individual  "went  on  a  tear/' 
otherwise  a  drunken  debauch,  and  during  his  absence  another 
man  annexed  the  steps,  together  with  such  rights  as  he  could 
enforce  on  those  who  came  that  way. 

Similar  stories  are  common.  Everyone  was  in  a  hurry ; 
anything  that  facilitated  progress  was  liberally  compensated. 
Thus,  a  man  landed  at  Skagway  without  a  dollar ;  another  man 
brought  12  horses;  the  latter  "got  cold  feet,"  that  is,  lost  his 
courage  to  go  forward ;  the  former  had  no  capital  but  pluck,  so 
he  borrowed  money  from  a  saloon-keeper,  bought  the  horses 
at  a  bargain  and  began  'packing,'  namely,  the  transport  of 
baggage  and  supplies  for  the  horde  of  gold-seekers.  He  made 
$300,000.  And  then  he  also  "went  on  a  tear,"  degraded  him- 
self with  drink  and  other  debauchery,  and  blew  out  his  brains. 
An  enterprising  fellow  threw  a  log  across  the  stream  and 
charged  50  cents  for  a  dry  crossing;  the  'mushers'  were  glad 
to  pay  the  toll  rather  than  get  wet  by  fording  the  creek. 

One  of  the  'old  timers' — how  quickly  men  and  events  be- 
come old  on  the  rapidly  shifting  frontier ! — told  me  that  he 
packed  850  pounds  over  the  Dyea  trail.  On  his  last  trip  he 
carried  147  pounds  of  bacon.  His  expression  bespoke  fatigue, 
but  his  face  lit  up:  "I  had  two  men  packing  money  for  me 
when  I  came  out."  "Money"  meant  gold  'dust.'  Within  a 
year  he  was  able  to  retrace  his  steps  down  that  same  trail,  this 
time  with  a  fortune.  He  was  one  of  the  few  that  kept  their 
heads  and  returned  home  with  a  competence  for  life. 

That  is  the  sunny  side  of  the  story:  a  few  level-headed  fel- 
lows made  money  rapidly  and  returned  home  with  enough 
capital  to  buy  a  farm,  a  business,  or  a  h^'iie.  Without  loss  of 
health  or  self-respect — on  the  contrary,  the  hardier  for  their 
experience,  both  physical  and  moral,  they  obtained  a  new  start 
in  the  careers  open  to  strong  men.  The  romance  of  the  rush 
was  riot  with  the  frenzied  'mushers.'  the  greedy  harlots,  or  the 
drunken  desperadoes  who  figure  in  the  tales  of  the  period,  but 
with  the  fjiiiet  strong  men  who  greatly  endured  and  nobly  over- 


152 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


came  the  trials  of  an  unaccustomed  life  and  returned  home  to 
be  the  leaders  of  a  peaceful  community. 


PART   OF   THK    Yl'KOX   TKRHITORY,    CANADA. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
ON  THE  WHITE  PASS  RAILWAY. 

Leaving  Skagway  at  9 : 30  a.m.  the  train  reaches  the  sum- 
mit of  the  White  Pass  at  12 : 20.  The  distance  is  201/^  miles, 
but  the  ascent  is  performed  leisurely.  Here  runs  the  inter- 
national boundary  between  Alaska  and  British  Columbia.  One 
of  the  survey  monuments  can  be  seen  on  the  hillside  just  above 
the  snowshed;  it  is  a  cement  pillar,  on  the  southern  face  of 
which  is  inscribed  UNITED  STATES;  and  on  the  opposite 
side,  CANADA. 

The  mountain  surface  at  the  top  of  the  White  Pass  is  bleak 
and  bare,  for  in  the  past  it  has  been  subjected  to  tremendous 
glaciation  and  during  the  winter  it  is  now  swept  by  terrific 
storms.  Three  miles  beyond  the  Pass  the  traveler  on  the  train 
gets  his  first  glimpse  of  Summit  lake,  one  of  a  chain  of  milky 
emerald  pools  down  which  the  Klondikers  floated  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1898.  The  lowest  of  the  three  lakes,  called  Shallow, 
was  so  true  to  its  name  that  the  gold-hunter  left  the  uncertain 
waterway  for  the  mossy  bank,  preferring  to  follow  the  cordu- 
roy trail,  now  fallen  into  decay.  A  little  farther,  the  railroad 
traverses  an  intensely  glaciated  tract,  an  area  of  inundated 
roclies  moutonnes,  in  which  is  Mud  lake,  bordered  on  two  sides 
by  a  moraine  sufficiently  regular  in  outline  to  be  mistaken  for 
a  railway  embankment. 

Log  Cabin  and  Tagish  Post  are  associated  with  memories  of 
boundary  disputes ;  for  the  Canadians  thought  the  line  ran 
first  through  one  of  these  points,  and  then  the  other.  The 
Northwest  Mounted  Police  collected  the  duty — 25  to  30  per 
cent — but  they  had  trouble  when  the  boundary  post  was 


154  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

moved  from  Log  Cabin  to  Summit,  the  packers  claiming  that 
they  were  in  American  territory. 

The  Klondike  trail  crosses  the  line  of  the  railroad  several 
times  between  Log  Cabin  and  Lake  Bennett,  and  runs  parallel 
most  of  the  way.  Those  who  went  over  the  Dyea  trail  at  the 
time  of  the  rush  came  by  way  of  Lake  Lindeman,  which  is 
separated  from  Lake  Bennett  by  a  short  run  of  rapids.  At 
1:25  p.m.  Lake  Lindeman  is  passed  and,  looking  back,  a  notch 
in  the  range  indicates  the  pass.  On  a  bleak  ridge  to  the  left 
is  a  cemetery,  where  lie  28  victims  out  of  some  20,000  people 
who,  in  the  spring  of  1908.  camped  at  the  head  of  Lake  Ben- 
nett while  awaiting  the  breaking  of  the  ice.  All  of  them  had 
tramped  during  the  winter  over  the  passes  from  Skagway 
and  Dyea. 

At  Lake  Bennett  the  train  stopped  long  enough  to  permit 
a  short  walk.  By  going  over  the  shoulder  of  a  hillock  to  the 
west,  the  traveler  obtains  a  full  view  of  the  ruins  of  the  settle- 
ment that  marked  the  so-called  head  of  navigation  at  the  time 
of  the  Klondike  excitement.  Skeletons  of  shanties  and  a 
weatherbeaten  wharf,  the  hulk  of  a  boat,  and  the  wreck  of  a 
wheelbarrow,  some  rotting  sleds  and  rusting  cans,  old  boots 
and  bottles  galore — that  is  all  that  survives. 

"Man  marks  the  earth  with  ruin, 
His  control  stops  with  the  shore/' 

The  lake  bears  an  impassive  face,  and  its  waters  lap  the 
beach  as  gently  as  before  the  "alarums  and  excursions"  of  the 
stampede.  The  faint  murmur  of  the  rapids  is  borne  upon  the 
mountain  air  like  the  sound  of  the  surf  heard  far  inland:  the 
wind  rustles  the  brush  growing  amid  the  litter  left  by  the  gold- 
seekers,  and  above  the  sordid  disarray  of  old  boots  and  empty 
bottles  a  meadow  lark  carols  gaily. 

The  only  structure  surviving  in  anything  like  decent  order 
is  the  church,  built  in  1899,  but  even  this  suggestion  of  morality 
amid  sin  and  canned  vegetables  appears  old  and  sightless,  for 
the  windows  are  boarded  and  the  bell  dismantled.  On  the 
west  shore  of  the  inlet  at  the  head  of  the  lake  are  the  charred 


ON   THE   WHITE   PASS   RAILROAD. 


156  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

remnants  of  Mike  King's  sawmill,  an  establishment  that  did 
great  service  at  the  price  of  $80  per  thousand,  "and  upward," 
as  hotel  men  say.  Eight  years  ago  from  10  to  15  steamboats 
churned  the  waters  of  Lake  Bennett,  and  countless  vessels  of 
every  kind  and  shape  bore  the  Argonauts  toward  the  golden 
sands  of  the  Klondike. 

The  railroad*  follows  the  east  shore  of  the  lake,  which  is 
26  miles  long.  As  a  lower  altitude  is  reached,  vegetation  be- 
comes more  assertive.  On  pretty  little  beaches  the  force  of 
the  wind  is  indicated  by  the  wrecks  of  several  boats,  some  of 
which  were  lined  with  canvas  and  others  with  sheets  of  gal- 
vanized iron.  Approaching  the  West  Arm,  the  expanse  of  still 
water  spreads  under  the  shadow  of  a  conical  mountain,  which, 
with  snow  and  cloud,  is  reflected  faithfully  in  the  unruffled  face 
of  the  lake.  On  the  West  Arm  was  another  sawmill,  now  the 
residence  of  a  solitary  hunter  and  trapper.  Near  the  north 
end  of  the  lake,  the  opposite  slope  exhibits  two  former  shores 
of  recent  origin,  for  they  show  but  little  erosion.  The  railroad 
gets  gravel  for  ballast  from  one  of  these  old  beaches.  At  the 
outlet  of  Lake  Bennett,  the  train  crosses  a  drawbridge  and 
enters  the  settlement  of  Caribou. 

Caribou  is  the  point  of  departure  for  the  Atlin  district.  The 
town  stands  upon  a  sandy  soil  recalling  the  mining  camps  of 
southern  Nevada.  Beyond  Caribou  the  railroad  traverses  a 
forest  of  scrubby  growth,  devastated  by  fire  and  hideous  to  the 
sight.  It  is  a  sandy  tract,  formerly  the  bed  of  Lake  Bennett. 
The  prospect  improves  and  begins  to  look  like  northern  Michi- 
gan, as  the  railroad  follows  the  course  of  a  meandering  stream 
— the  Watson  river — which  has  cut  deeply  into  the  sandy  gravel 
of  the  old  lake-bed.  Then  Minto  is  reached,  81  miles  from 
Skagway. 


*Our  impressions  of  the  scenery  along  the  White  Pass  &  Yukon  route 
were  of  the  best,  for  our  point  of  view  was  delightful.  Mr.  Scott 
Turner  and  I  traveled  with  Mr.  A.  L.  Berdoe,  the  general  manager, 
and  Mr.  V.  I.  Hahn,  the  superintendent  of  the  road,  in  their  private 
car.  Thus  we  became  indebted  not  only  for  adequate  nourishment 
but  for  information  prompted  by  the  sights  viewed  from  the  rear  of 
the  train. 


158  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

The  Watson  has  dwindled  to  a  series  of  pools,  and  the  scenery 
resembles  the  'bad  lands'  of  North  Dakota.  Old  beaches  are  in 
evidence  and  deep  narrow  gullies,  cut  in  the  sand,  suggest 
unusual  erosion.  Our  perplexity  is  removed  by  an  explanation 
from  Mr.  Berdoe :  The  railroad  company  wanted  to  lower  the 
level  of  Lake  Lewis  in  order  to  use  the  level  shore  for  the  grade 
and  shorten  the  line  by  several  thousand  feet.  It  was  planned 
to  lower  the  water  about  seven  feet :  a  ditch  was  dug  10  feet 
deep  and  5  feet  wide  for  a  length  of  350  feet.  The  water  ran 


ALASKA. 


gently  for  six  hours  and  then  cut  its  way  with  increasing  force, 
until  it  rushed  violently  along  a  channel  500  feet  wide.  Lake 
Lewis  was  lowered  83  feet  and  was  emptied  into  Lake  Bennett. 
Thus  geologic  action  was  accelerated  and  the  scenery  was 
spoiled,  so  that  now  the  weird  expanse  of  sand  and  reeds  looks 
a  fitting  habitat  for  a  dinotherium  or  a  glyptodon. 

Leaving  the  shrunken  waters  of  Lake  Lewis,  the  landscape 
becomes  less  abnormal ;  pleasant  bits  of  water  with  ducks  swini- 
7iiing  on  their  surface  and  grayling  underneath,  with  a  fringe 
of  rushes  along  the  shore,  and  pine,  cottonwood.  and  spruce 
for  a  background.  Hut  the  outlook  is  soon  obscured  bv  smoke. 


160 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


due  to  careless  'mushers,'  who  fail  to  extinguish  their  camp- 
fires  and  allow  the  wind  to  blow  cinders  into  the  dry  grass  be- 
tween the  trees.  This  year  an  unusual  number  of  men  have 
tramped  from  Skagway  to  White  Horse,  on  their  way  to  Daw- 
son.  The  increase  is  imputed  to  bad  times  in  the  States. 

Approaching  Wigan,  105  miles  from  Skagway,  the  Yukon 
is  seen  dashing  through  Miles  canyon.  At  5  :  30  p.m.  we  reached 
White  Horse. 


RRMAINS  OF  THK   KLONDIKE   RUSH.  OX   LAKK   BICXXKTT.    I'.tOS. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
WHITE  HORSE. 

White  Horse ;  the  origin  of  the  name  is  obvious :  the  crests 
of  the  waves  in  the  rapids  where  the  Yukon  flings  its  white 
mane  to  the  breeze  in  a  mad  gallop  over  the  rocks.  Owing  to 
the  dangers  of  the  rapids,  the  Klondikers  found  it  advisable 
to  make  a  'portage';  thereupon,  a  tramway  was  built  along 
the  bank,  and  a  ropeway  was  stretched  across  the  river,  and 
thus  there  was  ample  reason  for  the  rapid  growth  of  a  settle- 
ment, which  served  as  a  depot  on  the  way  to  the  diggings.  At 
White  Horse  the  Yukon  widens  and  steamboat  traffic  begins. 
Here  is  the  terminus  of  the  White  Pass  &  Yukon  railroad  and 
the  headquarters  of  the  winter  stage  service  for  Dawson.  The 
casual  visitor  will  gather  the  impression  of  a  populous  burg 
from  the  bustle  and  activity  of  its  inhabitants  and  hardly  re- 
alize that  the  summer  population  numbers  no  more  than  about 
500.  For  these  things  are  relative,  and  after  you  have  traveled 
for  several  days  and  have  seen  only  two  men  and  a  dog,  a  set- 
tlement like  White  Horse  is  impressive. 

The  town  is  situated  upon  a  flat  bounded  on  the  west  by 
sandy  bluffs  100  to  150  feet  high ;  the  main  street  runs  along 
the  river  bank,  where  the  Lewes  or  Yukon  sweeps  by  with  a 
5  to  6-knot  current.  The  railroad  terminus  is  marked  by  long 
gray  warehouses  made  of  corrugated  iron,  facing  the  wharves, 
to  which  steamboats  are  moored.  One  of  these  is  the  While 
Horse  on  which  we  expect  to  sail  to  Dawson ;  the  other  is  the 
Prospector.  A  little  farther  down  the  river  are  the  'ways,'  on 
which  steamboats  are  raised  from,  and  lowered  to,  the  water. 
The  accompaning  photograph  shows  the  arrangement.  The 
'ways'  are  timbers  (12  by  12  inches)  arranged  parallel,  the 


162  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

boat  sliding  over  them  in  a  direction  at  right  angles  to  their 
length.  These  constitute  the  'standing  ways'  and  upon  them 
is  placed  the  'slide,'  which  is  a  9  by  12-inch  timber,  with  'slip- 
pers' 3  inches  deep  and  4  inches  thick,  to  keep  the  'slide'  in 
place.  The  surface  of  the  incline  is  greased  with  tallow,  on 
which,  after  it  has  hardened,  dogfish  oil  is  smeared.  The  grad- 
ient being  about  one  inch  per  foot  allows  the  flat-bottomed 
steamboats  to  be  lowered  by  gravity,  or  to  be  hauled  onto  the 
'ways'  by  four  capstans,  with  four  tackles  and  two  horses  to 
each.  The  steamboats  are  propelled  by  a  paddle-wheel  at  the 
stern,  and  are  made  of  a  double  layer  of  3-inch  plank  attached 
to  a  frame  constructed  of  3  by  6-inch  material.  Two  large 
boats,  the  Yukoner  and  the  Canadian,  stood  high  and  dry  on 
the  ways.  The  Yukoner  is  173  feet  long  and  32  feet  beam ;  she 
has  not  run  on  the  river  since  1903,  for  her  draft  is  3  feet, 
which  is  too  much  for  the  shallows  of  the  upper  Yukon.  Most 
of  the  boats  draw  18  inches  to  2Vi>  feet.  By  peering  underneath 
her  flat  keel  we  could  see  where  she  had  scraped  over  the  bars. 
Sheets  of  galvanized  iron  attached  to  the  sides  serve  as  a  pro- 
tection against  floating  ice. 

The  water-front  of  White  Horse  is  eloquent  of  the  mining 
operations  of  the  interior;  here  are  seen  the  supplies  and  ma- 
chinery consigned  to  Dawson.  At  the  time  we  were  there,  in 
July  1908,  rows  of  huge  pipe  bespoke  the  construction  of  the 
big  ditch  and  water  system  of  the  Yukon  Gold  Co.  Pipe  from 
45  to  54  inches  in  diameter  and  %  inch  thick  (some  of  it  manu- 
factured in  Germany),  suggested  a  colossal  undertaking  and  a 
lordly  expenditure,  while  the  beginnings  of  agriculture  were 
indicated  by  a  plough  and  a  mowing  machine. 

On  our  arrival  we  found  a  comfortable  hotel,  and  after 
'supper'  we  wandered  along  the  river  front.  It  was  8  o'clock, 
but.  of  course,  broad  daylight,  for  we  were  now  in  latitude 
(>1°  north.  A  carpenter  at  work  afforded  a  source  of  informa- 
tion. He  stated  that  lie  was  constructing  a  boat  to  hold  four 
men  and  their  provisions:  the  cost  of  the  boat  was  $20  and  rep- 
resented one  day's  labor  on  his  part,  with  140  feet  of  dressed 
lumber  worth  from  $55  to  $75  per  thousand.  If  the  men  trav- 
eled by  steamer  the  second-class  fare  was  $30.  while  the  boat 


164  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

cost  $5  apiece  for  four  men  and  the  grub  about  $2.50  per  man. 
According  to  the  regulations  enforced  by  the  Northwest 
Mounted  Police  all  travelers  must  give  their  names,  and  upon 
their  boat  a  number  is  placed,  so  that  the  Police  may  keep 
account  of  accidents,  in  case  boats  fail  to  reach  Dawson,  and 
trace  criminals. 

Here  we  obtained  an  inkling  of  the  supervision  exercised 
by  the  Northwest  Mounted  Police,  the  finest  body  of  men  in 
the  world  engaged  in  such  service.  They  are  the  best  embodi- 
ment of  authority  and  to  them  is  accorded  the  highest  respect 
in  the  enforcement  of  law.  No  traveler  in  northwestern  Can- 
ada, whatever  his  nationality,  can  fail  to  be  struck  by  the  con- 
trast between  these  men  and  the  usual  type  of  inefficient  mu- 
nicipal policemen.  When  calling  upon  the  officer  in  command 
at  the  barracks  I  ventured  to  suggest  that  the  respect  for  law 
in  the  Northwest  was  due  to  the  efficiency  of  the  Mounted 
Police,  but  he  modestly  and  truly  attributed  the  result  to  the 
prompt  enforcement  of  justice  and  the  absence  of  political  un- 
dercurrents. 

The  Mounted  Police  was  originally  modeled  'after  the  Irish 
Mounted  Constabulary,  and  grew  out  of  the  necessity  of  the 
Northwest  when  that  vast  region  was  surrendered  by  the  Hud- 
son's  Bay  Company  to  the  Canadian  government.  The  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  was  organized  in  1670  under  a  charter 
granted  by  Charles  II  to  the  Bavarian  soldier.  Prince  Rupert, 
and  the  friends  of  the  latter.  Prince  Rupert,  the  first  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Company,  was  succeeded  by  the  Duke  of  York, 
afterward  James  II,  and  by  John  Churchill,  afterward  Duke 
of  Maryborough.  The  only  return  asked  by  Charles  II  for  the 
empire  he  gave  to  the  Company  was  "two  elks  and  two  black 
beavers."  The  beaver  was  the  lure  to  British  Dominion  in 
northwestern  America,  as  the  sable  was  the  prize  for  which 
the  Russians  traversed  Siberia  and  invaded  the  country  that  is 
now  called  Alaska.  When  the  Dominion  of  Canada  was  but  five 
years  old,  it  acquired  2, ^00. 000  square  miles — a  continental  area 
-from  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  The  Canadian  Pacific  Rail- 
way was  being  built  and  protection  was  necessary  for  those  en- 
gatrt-d  in  this  work  and  also  for  settlers.  Thus,  in  September 


WHITE  HORSE. 


165 


1873,  at  Toronto,  Colonel  George  A.  PVench  of  the  Royal  Ar- 
tillery, under  the  premiership  of  Sir  John  Maedonald,  organized 
the  Northwest  Mounted  Police.  Originally  it  was  a  body  of  300 
strong.  Col.  French  was  made  the  first  Commissioner.  What- 
ever feeling  may  be  entertained  against  policemen,  animosity 
is  rarely  felt  against  disciplined  soldiers  wearing  the  King's 
uniform.  Therefore  the  men  were  given  the  red  coat,  but  with- 
out any  furbelows.  As  Sir  John  Maedonald  said :  "I  want  as 
little  gold  lace  and  fuss  and  feathers  as  possible,  not  a  crack 


STEAMBOATS  ON  THE   STOCKS  AT  WHITE   HORSE. 

cavalry  regiment,  but  an  efficient  police  force  for  the  rough 
and  ready — particularly  ready — enforcement  of  law  and  jus- 
tice." Applicants  had  to  be  able  to  read  and  write  "either 
the  English  or  the  French  language."  The  officers  at  first 
were  taken  from  the  active  militia,  but  their  titles  are  not  of  a 
military  character;  the  chief  is  called  Commissioner,  the  next 
in  rank  are  the  Superintendents,  and  then  the  Inspectors,  fol- 
lowed by  Sergeants  and  Corporals,  below  whom  come  the  main 
body  of  Constables.  They  resemble  the  ruralfs  of  Mexico  and 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


the  yuardia  cicllvs  of  Spain.  The  pay  is  small.  A  newly  en- 
listed man  gets  60  cents  per  day,  to  which  is  added  5  cents  per 
day  annually  until  his  pay  reaches  $1,  with  50  cents  extra 
when  serving  in  the  Yukon  Territory.  Thus  the  regimental 
pay  ranges  from  $1.10  to  $1.50  per  day.  Anyone  engaged  in 
work  outside  of  the  ordinary  regimental  duties  —  and  nearly 
every  member  of  the  force  is  thus  engaged  —  earns  from  50 
cents  to  $1.50  more.  They  also  receive  food,  clothing,  medical 
care,  and  so  forth.  The  policeman  of  San  Francisco  gets  $120 
per  month,  plus  graft. 

The  officers  of  the  Royal  Northwest  Mounted  Police  rank 
with  the  militia,  and  are  usually  accorded  equivalent  titles; 
thus  the  Commisisoner  is  called  Colonel  and  the  Assistant-Com- 
missioner is  a  Major.  They  come  from  military  colleges,  from 
civilian  appointments,  and  from  the  ranks.  An  intelligent  man 
wins  rapid  promotion,  one-half  of  the  officers  having  risen  from 
the  ranks.  After  20  years  of  service  a  pension  equal  to  40  per 
cent  of  pay  is  allowed  and  by  continuous  service  the  pension  is 
raised  to  the  ratio  of  70  per  cent.  Officers  can  retire  after  25 
years  service  with  a  pension  of  50  per  cent,  increased  to  70 
per  cent  at  the  end  of  35  years  of  service.  The  men  are  above 
the  average  in  physique,  intelligence,  and  morality;  last  Sep- 
tember only  6  out  of  160  applicants  were  passed.  As  a  rule 
these  Northwest  Police  are  good  woodsmen,  excellent  horse- 
men, and  handy  in  a  canoe.  Most  of  their  traveling  in  the 
Yukon  is  done  in  a  light  wagon,  riding  only  on  the  regular 
trails.  In  winter  they  go  across  country  with  dogs,  and  in 
summer  they  'mush.'  Owing  to  appointment  by  the  Dominion 
Government,  this  constabularly  is  independent  of  local  politi- 
cians and  of  changes  in  public  sentiment;  it  is  one  of  the  regu- 
lations that  members  of  the  force  must  not  show  political  par- 
tisanship. 

The  Northwest  Mounted  Police  is  answerable  to  the  Do- 
minion Government  in  the  person  of  the  Premier  of  Canada; 
the  criminal  laws  are  the  same  throughout  Canada;  therefore 
then;  are  no  complications  through  extradition.  If  one  of  the 
Police  goes  seven  miles  beyond  the  boundary  of  the  Province 
in  which  he  is  stationed,  he  gets  the  local  Justice  of  the  Peace 


1(38  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

to  back  his  warrant,  but  he  is  not  amenable  to  the  local  authori- 
ties. When  in  the  Yukon  Territory  a  commissioned  officer  has 
the  powers  of  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  of  a  coroner ;  in  effect, 
he  becomes  stipendiary  magistrate. 

A  record  is  kept  of  everyone  entering  the  Yukon,  from  ar- 
rival to  departure,  so  that  the  Police  can  place  a  hand  on  them 
if  necessary.  For  instance,  last  May  three  men  left  White 
Horse  in  a  boat  (No.  113)  ;  about  12  miles  below  Selkirk  one 
of  the  men  tried  to  murder  his  two  comrades  and  killed  one 
of  them,  wounding  the  other.  The  murderer  started  to  go 
down  the  river  but,  being  unable  to  account  for  his  partners, 
he  was  arrested.  By  referring  to  White  Horse  all  the  neces- 
sary particulars  were  obtained.  In  June  he  was  tried  and,  four 
month  later,  sentenced  to  be  hung.  The  postponement  of  the 
hanging  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  case  had  to  be  sent  to 
Ottawa  for  revision  and  allowance  had  to  be  made  for  delays 
in  the  mail.  Any  man  going  down  the  river  in  a  small  boat  is 
noted  by  the  Police,  a  description  is  recorded  with  a  statement 
whence  he  came.  No  murder  goes  unpunished,  as  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  while  nine  murders  have  been  committed  in  the 
Yukon  since  the  rush  to  Dawson,  in  eight  cases  the  criminal 
has  been  hung  and  in  one  instance  sentenced  to  imprisonment. 
Trial  is  before  the  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Terri- 
tory and  a  jury,  but  the  evidence  brought  forward  by  the 
Mounted  Police  has  been  so  complete  as  to  compel  the  juries 
to  find  a  verdict  of  Guilty.  In  the  case  of  robberies,  it  has 
been  more  difficult  to  get  convictions,  and  the  blame  is  placed 
on  Americans  of  lax  sentiment.  The  Police  enforce  all  the  or- 
dinances of  the  Territory  and  the  criminal  code  of  Canada. 

There  can  be  no  reason  why,  to  the  already  multifarious 
duties  of  the  Mounted  Police,  there  should  be  added  that  of 
supplying  information  about  mines,  yet  in  the  official  reports 
of  the  officers  in  command  at  the  various  posts  are  found  de- 
scriptions of  mining  operations  and  conclusions  concerning  the 
richness  of  mines.  Those  are,  of  course,  of  no  value,  save  as 
reflecting  local  gossip,  and  the  publication  of  them  does  harm, 
in  as  much  as  many  people  are  simple  enough  to  believe,  for 
example,  that  Commissioner  Wood's  opinion  concerning  the 


WHITE  HORSE.  169 

White  Horse  copper  deposits  is  that  of  one  qualified  to  express 
a  correct  view,  just  as  there  are  people  who  mentally  bow  to 
the  views  of  a  bishop  on  military  affairs,  or  an  admiral  on 
gold-dredging.  In  the  report  for  1907  Commissioner  Wood 
states  that ' '  the  success  of  the  camp  is  now  assured. ' '  He  refers 
to  copper  mining  in  the  vicinity  of  White  Horse.  I  visited  the 
copper  deposits,  accompanied  by  Messrs.  J.  W.  Bryant  and 
Scott  Turner.  It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  them,  for  this 
would  require  technical  details ;  I  have  done  so  in  a  more  suit- 
able place.*  Suffice  it  to  say  that  "the  success  of  the  camp" 
is  without  assurance,  although  not  without  hope,  if  copper  rises 
in  price,  and  if  more  work  and  less  talk  be  devoted  to  these 
interesting  deposits  of  ore. 

On  returning  from  the  copper  mines  we  followed  the  Daw- 
son  stage-road,  fringed  with  briar-roses  and  the  bright  flowers 
of  a  brief  summer  season.  After  the  close  of  navigation  the 
stage  makes  one  trip  weekly  over  the  330  miles  to  Dawson,  and 
when  the  rivers  are  frozen  this  service  is  doubled.  During  the 
intermediate  period,  when  the  steamers  are  not  running,  but 
the  rivers  are  not  completely  frozen,  the  passengers  and  mail 
are  conveyed  across  the  streams  in  canoes.  The  service  is  ad- 
justed to  suit  the  business  available ;  at  the  end  of  March,  when 
people  are  returning  to  the  'inside,'  two  or  even  three  stages 
leave  White  Horse  each  day.  The  stage-coach  is  a  wagon  or  a 
sleigh,  according  to  the  condition  of  the  roads ;  as  a  sleigh  it 
holds  13  passengers  and  "the  driver  breaks  the  'hoodoo, '  making 
14";  when  replaced  by  a  wagon,  10  passengers  find  accommo- 
dation. In  spring,  a  team  of  six  horses  is  required ;  and  in  the 
fall,  four,  according  to  the  state  of  the  road.  When  the  ground 
is  partly  bare,  the  sleighs  are  pulled  by  six  horses,  otherwise 
four  suffice.  The  fare  is  $75  to  $125  from  White  Horse  to 
Dawson,  with  meals  and  lodging  extra.  The  company  does  not 
run  the  road-houses,  so  the  passengers  pay  $1.50  per  meal  and 
$2  for  a  room.  When  all  is  serene,  the  trip  consumes  five  days, 
so  that  the  road-house  expense  is  about  $30.  From  700  to  800 
people  make  the  journey  each  winter;  of  these  500  are  going 


*Mining  and  Scientific  Press.     December  5,  1908. 


170  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

'in'  and  300  'out.'  the  difference  being  due  to  the  preference 
for  the  steamboats  when  coming  out  and  the  necessity  for 
getting  'inside'  early  in  the  spring,  before  navigation  has  been 
resumed. 

In  the  course  of  the  330  miles  to  Dawson,  15  teams  are  used, 
permitting  three  changes  of  horses  every  day.  Each  team  trav- 
els an  average  of  22  miles.  They  are  fed  compressed  hay  or  oats 
at  4!/2  cents  per  pound.  Travelers  unite  in  commending  the 
excellence  of  this  stage  service. 

The  traveler  who  reaches  White  Horse  will  want  to  see  the 
rapids  after  which  the  town  is  named ;  but  at  this  point  it  will 
be  necessary  to  elucidate  the  nomenclature  of  the  Yukon  and 
its  tributaries.  The  river  that  sweeps  past  White  Horse  is  the 
Lewes,  which  along  a  portion  of  its  length  is  also  called  the 
Thirty  Mile;  90  miles  below  White  Horse,  the  Lewes  unites 
with  the  Ilootalinqua  or  Teslin  river,  and  it  may  be  questioned 
which  of  these  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  main  stream  of  the 
Yukon.  According  to  volume  of  water  discharged,  the  Lewes 
is  the  big  brother,  and  I  agree  with  Angelo  Ileilprin  that  it  will 
be  simpler,  and  correct,  to  regard  the  Yukon  as  rising  in  the 
small  lakes  above  Lake  Lindeman.  so  that  the  Lewes,  the  Thirty 
Mile,  and  other  local  names  may  be  disregarded.  The  Yukon 
has  its  source  within  25  miles  of  the  ocean  to  which  it  returns 
after  flowing  2300  miles. 

The  river,  five  miles  above  White  Horse,  cuts  through  three 
flows  af  basaltic  lava,  and  in  doing  so  has  made  the  rapids 
named  Miles,  Squaw,  and  White  Horse.  On  emerging  from  the 
narrow  gorge  through  the  basalt  the  Yukon  swings  out  into 
the  soft  beds  of  drift  and  sand,  making  broad  shallows.  Dur- 
ing flood  time  it  is  possible  to  shoot  the  rapids  with  reasonable 
safety:  as  the  river  dwindles,  navigation  becomes  more  Dan- 
gerous. Many  men  tried  to  shoot  the  rapids  during  the  'rush,' 
from  1S97  to  1899.  and  of  these  fully  200  were  drowned.  At 
the  end  of  last  June  two  of  the  pilots  on  the  upper  Yukon  were 
lost  in  the  White  Horse  rapids.  When  the  water  is  low  the 
river  tumbles  over  the  rocks  in  the  centre  of  the  channel, 
creating  a  chute  as  destructive  as  a  waterfall.  Both  of  the 
pilots  mentioned  were  drowned,  the  body  of  one  of  them  being 


WHITE  HORSE. 


171 


recovered  14  miles  down-stream.     He  WHS  buried  on  the  day 
of  our  arrival  at  White  Horse. 

To  obviate  the  perils  of  the  angry  river,  a  portage  was  early 
adopted.  Tramways  were  built  on  both  banks  in  the  spring 
and  summer  of  1898 ;  the  one  on  the  west  bank  was  6^/2  miles 
long  and  was  built  by  John  Hepburn,  who  sold  it  for  $60,000 
to  the  owner  of  the  tram  on  the  east  bank.  This  was  5  miles 
long  and  was  built  by  Norman  Macaulay.  The  toll  was  3  cents 
per  pound  and  $25  for  boats,  but  the  latter  were  usually  piloted 
through  the  rapids  for  $20.  A  pilot  could  make  10  trips  per 


OLD   TRAMWAY  AT  WHITE   HORSE. 

day,  riding  on  horseback  along  the  trail  from  the  lower  end  of 
the  rapids  to  the  head  of  the  canyon,  where  there  was  a  camp 
o£  a  dozen  temporary  dwellings.  This  was  Canyon  City.  On 
the  completion  of  the  railroad  in  August  1900,  the  tramways,  of 
course,  became  idle  and  the  owners  distributed  their  money  in 
the  'wide  open'  town  of  White  Horse. 

We  walked  along  the  abandoned  tramway  on  the  west  bank 
into  the  small  grove  of  alder  and  cottonwood  fringing  the  river. 
An  old  truck  and  scattered  car-wheels  suggested  the  days  gone- 
bv.  The  tramwrav  was  a  crude  affair,  the  track  consisting  of 


172  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

rough  hewn  4  by  6-inch  timbers,  laid  3  feet  apart.  At  intervals 
of  5  to  12  feet  cross-pieces  or  ties  were  placed.  A  truck  with 
iron  wheels  was  pulled  by  a  horse.  Thus  boats  and  supplies 
were  transferred  past  the  rapids. 

While  inspecting  the  old  tramway  we  had  our  first  experi- 
ence with  mosquitoes.  Everybody  who  goes  to  the  North  must 
have  his  fling  at  this  voracious  pest.  I  am  unable  to  add  to 
the  fearful  stories  that  represent  Alaska  and  the  Yukon  as 
being  in  the  possession  of  the  powers  of  Beelzebub.  During 
the  three  months  spent  in  the  country,  we  were  annoyed  by 
mosquitoes  on  several  occasions ;  once  or  twice  they  wrere  so 
pestilent  as  to  cause  me  to  forego  a  breakfast  or  supper  in 
camp,  preferring  to  protect  my  head  under  gauze  rather  than 
expose  myself  to  their  attack  while  eating  or  drinking.  At 
White  Horse  I  had  a  protector  made ;  this  consisted  of  the 
finest  black  tulle  in  cylindrical  form,  the  top  provided  with  an 
elastic  band  to  attach  it  to  the  hat,  and  the  bottom  with  an- 
other band  to  go  around  the  throat.  The  base  was  further 
covered  by  a  handkerchief;  at  the  level  of  the  mouth  was  a 
thin  hoop  of  fish-bone,  to  keep  the  veil  from  coming  close  to 
the  face,  giving  a  breathing  space  and  preventing  mosquitoes 
from  biting  through  the  mesh  of  the  tulle.  This  proved  an 
ample  protection  and  was  readily  folded  into  a  package  that 
would  go  into  my  coat  pocket.  Of  course,  I  wore  gauntleted 
gloves.  Thus  accoutred  I  would  write  peacefully  in  my  note- 
book and  observe  the  sights  without  the  constant  irritation  of 
a  swarm  of  insects,  both  gnats  and  mosquitoes.  At  night  when 
in  camp  I  found  it  well  to  throw  a  yard  of  tulle  over  my  head. 
Tn  consequence,  my  memories  of  Alaska  are  not  clouded  by 
swarms  of  mosquitoes.*  At  times  when  my  armor  was  dis- 
carded I  realized  that  the  scenery  of  the  country  would  be 
beautiful  if  not  shared  with  so  many  rapacious  and  triumphant 
members  of  the  genus  culc.r;  but  such  a  mood  quickly  passed, 
and  I  am  glad  to  leave  to  other  travelers  the  tale  of  battle  with 
the  enemy  who  comes  not  singly  but  in  battalions. 

*One  of  the  best  antidotes  against  mosquitoes  is  oil  of  citronella, 
which  is  distilled  from  a  plant  cultivated  in  Ceylon  and  the  Straits 
Settlements. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
ON  THE  UPPER  YUKON. 

After  two  pleasant  days  at  White  Horse,  we  went  aboard 
the  steamer  of  the  same  name  on  the  evening  of  July  11. 
Departure  was  delayed  until  midnight,  while  loading  260  tons 
of  machinery,  consigned  to  the  Yukon  Gold  Company,  on  a 
barge.  This  barge  was  then  attached  by  steel  cables  to  the 
bow  of  the  White  Horse,  as  the  accompanying  photograph  will 
illustrate.  The  barge  was  106  feet  long  and  34  feet  beam;  the 
steamer  was  167  feet  long  and  carried  180  tons  of  freight ;  and 
though  the  barge  was  60  feet  shorter,  with  the  same  beam,  yet 
it  was  able  to  carry  half  as  much  again  as  the  steamer  behind 
it.  The  White  Horse  drew  only  4  feet  of  water  and  burned  about 
100  cords  on  the  round  trip  to  Dawson  (making  920  miles  alto- 
gether) ;  of  the  wood  consumed,  75  cords  were  burned  coming 
up-stream.  The  fuel  cost  $5  to  $6.50  per  cord,  the  wood-cutter 
paying  the  government  royalty  or  'stumpage'  of  50  cents  per 
cord. 

At  4  a.m.  the  steamer  stopped  at  the  entrance  of  Lake 
Laberge.  The  channel  was  silted,  as  is  frequently  the  case. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  season,  pilots  are  sent  down  to  stake 
the  course ;  but  the  debris  carried  by  the  swift  river  and  depos- 
ited at  the  inlet,  forms  a  shifting  bar.  Lying  in  my  bunk  I 
could  hear  the  look-out  calling  the  soundings  (made  with  a 
pole),  and  occasionally  the  boat  would  crunch  against  the  sandy 
bottom.  The  sturdy  hulls  of  these  steamers  find  no  counter- 
part in  the  flimsiness  of  the  upper  works ;  and  with  the  desire 
to  minimize  weight  there  is  no  attempt  to  save  the  weary  pas- 
senger from  the  sleep-destroying  jangles  of  the  bell-signals  and 
the  rattling  of  the  steering-chains. 


174 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


At  8  o'clock  we  were  in  the  centre  of  the  lake,  advancing 
slowly.  The  opposing  shores  were  half  a  mile  and  three  miles 
distant,  respectively.  It  was  a  sunny  morning  and  the  air  was 
most  stimulating.  On  the  near  shore,  eastward,  the  limestone 
hummocks  showed  intensely  glaciated.  The  geologist  Dawson 
has  referred  to  these  evidences  of  ice-action  and  of  the  sloping 
surfaces  "so  smooth  that  it  is  difficult  to  walk  over  them." 
Nowhere  is  the  sculpturing  hand  of  the  glacier  more  obvious ; 
several  river  terraces  belt  the  hillsides  far  above  the  present 
channel  of  the  river,  and  the  fundamental  facts  of  geologv  are 


postf<.o-n.s    of  S  Ce.  a.  rne.  r 

DIAGRAM  OF   NAVIGATION. 

Emerging  from  Lake  Laberge  the  river  is  confined  to  a 
narrow  channel,  200  to  250  feet  wide.  The  wTater  is  clear,  for 
it  has  left  its  silt  on  the  fioor  of  the  lake,  as  the  Rhone  in  Lake 
Oeneva.  The  scenery  is  not  impressive  but  the  handling  of 
the  boat  with  its  attached  barge  furnishes  matter  for  interest 
and  comment.  The  river  is  crooked  and  the  navigable  channel 
swings  from  side  to  side  according  to  the  erosion  of  the  banks. 
The  6  to  7-knot  current  compels  the  pilot  to  be  prompt.  A 
bend  in  the  river  is  characterized  by  a  sandy  beach  on  the  inner 
side  of  the  curve,  while  across  the  channel  the  deep  water  hugs 
the  steep  bank,  as  the  accompanying  diagram  will  explain.  The 
paddle-wheel  at  the  stern  ;icts  as  ;i  pivot  on  which  the  boat 


ON  THE   UPPER  YUKON. 


175 


turns  in  obedience  to  the  five  rudders  under  the  wheel.  Care  is 
taken  not  to  get  both  bow  and  stern  in  the  current  at  the  same 
time,  and  when  the  boat  has  turned  into  the  swift  current 
(at  A)  the  engines  are  reversed  so  as  to  prevent  the  boat  from 
being  carried  against  the  near  bank.  In  making  the  quick  turn 


THE   BARGE    IN   FRONT   OF   STEAMER    'WHITE   HORSE1, 
SHOWING   METHOD   OF   ATTACHMENT. 


to  the  right  (at  B)  the  boat  is  run  close  to  the  left  bank  so  that 
the  force  of  the  current  will  swing  the  bow  around:  if  it  fails 
to  do  this,  then  it  becomes  necessary  to  back-water  in  order  to 
give  the  current  time  to  aid  the  helmsman.  As  soon  as  the 
turn  is  made,  the  signal  is  given  for  full  speed  ahead,  thereby 


176  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

prevented  the  stern  from  swinging  into  the  shore  as  the  bow 
eomes  round.  At  B  the  bow  of  the  barge  in  front  of  the  White 
Horse  was  within  a  yard  of  the  shore  and  to  the  unsophisticated 
disaster  seemed  imminent.  An  hour  later  the  barge,  forming 
the  fore-bow  of  the  steamer,  ran  aground,  and  the  paddle- 
wheel  was  reversed  until  the  current  swung  the  barge  out  of 
the  sand.  A  man  was  sent  to  examine  the  hold  of  the  barge  to 
see  if  she  had  sprung  a  leak.  The  river  makes  a  series  of 
serpentine  windings  and  the  pilot  needs  to  be  alert  in  order 
to  clear  the  stern  while  protecting  the  bow  of  the  tandem 
vessel.  The  engines  are  as  often  in  reverse  as  in  forward 
motion,  for  the  speed  of  the  craft  is  clearly  due  to  the  current, 
steam-power  being  used  almost  solely  to  gain  steerage-way. 
Often  the  feeling  comes  that  the  boat  is  grounded,  this  being 
caused  by  vibration  from  back-paddling,  increased  by  air 
dragged  under  the  keel  by  the  churning  of  the  paddle-wheel. 

Soon,  however,  interest  in  the  pilotage  staled  and  the  sudden 
changes  of  direction  ceased  to  attract  notice.  The  boat  swept 
along  with  the  current,  through  a  landscape  consisting  of 
scrubby  forest,  shelving  sandy  shores,  banks  of  gravel,  and  a 
meandering  channel.  The  flutter  of  a  Union  Jack  gave  a  touch 
of  color  and  authority  to  the  cabin  marking  an  outpost  of  the 
Mounted  Police.  Later,  a  boat  came  alongside  with  a  couple 
of  men  who  traded  75  pounds  of  grayling  (a  variety  of  salmon) 
for  flour  and  sugar.  A  trail  along  the  east  bank  marked  the 
telegraph  line,  the  wire  of  which  was  rarely  visible  on  account 
of  the  foliage.  The  wreck  of  the  steamer  Domville  suggested 
possibilities,  without  intimidating  us  with  the  idea  of  a  proba- 
bility. 

At  noon,  soundings  were  taken — "Mark  Five,"  was  called, 
indicating  a  depth  of  five  feet — preparatory  to  mooring  along- 
side the  bank,  where  a  stack  of  cordwood  stood  ready.  This 
was  loaded  by  the  crew,  carrying  two  or  even  three  logs  at  a 
trip,  over  the  gang-plank  to  the  boiler-room.  The  process  is 
called  ' wooding-up' :  it  was  not  impressive,  and  it  seemed  a 
reflection  upon  the  coal  of  the  Tantalus  mine,  which  lies  a  little 
farther  down  the  river. 

Then   comes  tin-  junction   with   the   Ilootalinqua    or  Teslin. 


ON  THE  UPPER  YUKON. 


177 


bringing  muddy  water  into  the  Yukon.  The  Hootalinqua  is 
much  less  sinuous  than  the  Lewes  branch  of  the  Yukon ;  it  is 
also  less  swift ;  and  on  the  map  it  appears  as  an  elongation  of 
Lake  Teslin,  itself  125  miles  in  length.  At  one  time  it  was 
planned  to  establish  navigation  on  the  Teslin,  connecting,  by 
Telegraph  creek,  with  Glenora  on  the  inlet  of  the  Stikine  river 
and  thence  to  Wrangell  on  the  inland  sea.  The  contractors, 
Mackenzie  &  Mann,  had  organized  a  scheme  to  this  effect,  but 
the  failure  of  the  Canadian  government  to  give  a  subsidy 


. . 


STEAMER   AND    BARGE   ON   THE   AA'AY   TO   DAWSON. 

caused  them  to  desist.  Several  of  the  steamers  now  at  White 
Horse  were  meant  for  this  service,  and  the  one  on  which  we 
traveled  had  been  intended  to  ply  on  tide-water  between  Wran- 
gell and  Glenora.  (See  map  of  southeastern  Alaska.) 

The  next  morning  I  awoke  to  find  our  boat  alongside  the 
bank,  receiving  a  supply  of  cordwood.  We  met  the  Victorian, 
burning  coal  from  the  Tantalus  mine.  At  the  junction  of  the 
Little  Salmon  river  we  passed  an  Indian  village  and  a  station 
of  the  Mounted  Police.  It  is  the  custom  to  stop  small  boats 
and  take  the  names  of  wavfarers.  A  boat  will  drift  60  to  70 


178  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

miles  per  day  of  10  hours  when  going  down-stream:  it  is  an 
easy  and  not  unpleasant  mode  of  travel.  Up  to  July  8,  in  about 
five  weeks,  not  less  than  270  boats,  carrying  1200  men,  had 
gone  down  the  river  since  navigation  opened,  and  1500  had 
passed  on  steamers.  In  March  and  April,  before  the  ice  broke, 
300  men,  mostly  Slavonians  from  Treadwell,  had  walked  over 
the  winter  trail  to  Dawson.  One  of  the  stages  met  68  men 
tramping,  the  average  time  made  by  these  'mushers'  being  11 
days  from  White  Horse  to  Dawson.  The  road-houses,  being 
placed  at  intervals  of  10  to  20  miles,  furnish  places  for  food  and 
rest  to  this  straggling  body  of  immigrants. 

Below  the  Little  Salmon  a  white  tent  on  stilts  came  into 
view;  this  was  a  "cache',  a  term  taken  from  the  French-Cana- 
dian trappers,  signifying  a  hidden  store  of  provisions.  On  a 
platform,  six  to  ten  feet  above  the  ground,  smoked  fish  and 
dried  meat  are  placed  so  as  to  be  out  of  the  reach  of  animals, 
especially  of  the  dogs  used  for  traction  in  winter. 

In  the  afternoon  highly  tilted  strata  appeared  on  the  right 
bank  and  black  little  holes  where  prospectors  had  dug  into  a 
seam  of  coal.  Then  the  butte,  or  knob,  above  the  coal  mine  at 
Tantalus  came  into  view,  and  shortly  after  we  approached  the 
mine  itself,  marked  by  coal-bunkers  on  the  left  bank  and  a 
tramway  leading  to  the  entry.  At  the  wharf  was  a  barge 
loaded  with  coal  for  the  domestic  use  of  the  people  at  Dawson. 
A  mile  down  the  river  is  Carmack's  trading  post,  which  was  an 
important  point  before  the  rush.  At  5  o'clock,  the  Northern 
day  being  still  young,  we  approached  the  celebrated  Five 
Finger  rapids  and  prepared  for  excitement. 

Here  four  islands  of  rock  divide  the  Yukon  into  five  streams. 
As  the  steamer  swept  forward  under  the  combined  force  of  her 
own  steam  and  the  current,  it  was  difficult  for  the  passengers 
to  guess  through  which  of  the  openings  the  pilot  would  take 
her.  It  was  the  one  nearest  the  right  bank,  yet  the  boat  seemed 
1o  be  heading  for  the  central  island.  Suddenly  the  current 
sxvung  her  round  into  the  right-hand  channel,  and  in  a  moment 
we  were  in  the  midst  of  the  rapids  and  beyond  them  into  quiet 
water.  The  passage  was  made  before  anyone  had  time  to 
develop  timidity. 


ON  THE   UPPER  YUKON. 


179 


Just  above  the  rapids  is  a  hut  and  near  it  a  steel  rope,  2500 
feet  long,  is  anchored;  it  goes  under  water  and  is  attached  to 
a  ring-bolt  on  the  shore  below  the  rapids.  This  is  used  by 
steamboats  that  cannot  make  headway  against  the  current ;  the 
cable  is  passed  around  the  capstan  and  thus  the  steamer  pulls 


THE    STEAMER    'WHITE    HORSE'. 

herself  through  the  rapids.  In  the  photograph  some  of  the 
crew  are  seen  at  work  with  winch  and  rope.  Before  this  con- 
trivance was  established,  boats  of  small  power  had  great  trouble 
in  stemming  the  current;  they  would  get  their  boiler-pressure 
up  to  250  pounds  and  when  about  to  'buck'  the  rapids  numerous 
sides  of  bacon  would  be  stacked  ready  for  feeding  into  the 


ISO  THROUGH  THE  YUKON"  AND  ALASKA. 

furnace.  If  they  failed,  as  they  often  did  the  first  time,  there 
was  nothing  to  do  but  to  get  up  steam  again  and  go  forward 
under  excessive  pressure  with  the  chance  of  a  boiler  explosion. 
During  the  Klondike  rush  the  small  boats  and  rafts  took  the 
opening  on  the  extreme  right,  and  a  story  is  told  of  two  Irish- 
men, drunk,  in  a  boat,  coming  through  when  it  was  dark.  They 
wanted  to  know  where  the  Five  Finger  rapids  were  and  on 
being  informed  that  they  had  come  through  them,  one  of  them 
replied  that  he  thought  the  water  \vas  "a  bit  rough".  Since 
then  navigation  has  been  improved  by  blasting  some  of  the 
rocks  that  endanger  the  passage. 

Six  miles  lower  the  Rink  rapids  are  traversed.  They  look 
worse  than  the  Five  Finger ;  as  a  man  who  participated  in  the 
rush  of  '98  said:  "The  white  line  of  foam  was  calculated  to 
put  the  fear  of  God  into  a  man."  He  hugged  the  right  shore, 
where  a  narrow  lane  of  smooth  water  may  be  followed. 

At  6  o'clock  Yukon  Crossing  was  passed,  and  mail  was 
landed.  On  the  left  bank  are  the  road-houses  of  the  stage 
company,  for  here  the  winter  trail  crosses  the  river.  The 
Yukon  had  now  gro\vn  to  a  noble  stream  250  to  300  yards 
wide :  having  conquered  every  obstruction  the  river  flowed 
quietly  toward  the  gates  of  the  setting  sun.  A  glorious  sunset 
at  9:30  was  succeeded  by  a  moon  more  lovely  than  the  one 
Kndymion  saw. 

The  next  day  opened  gray,  but  the  vegetation  was  less 
stunted,  willows  appeared,  and  at  rare  intervals  a  patch  of 
green  told  of  a  settler's  effort  to  tame  Nature  to  fruitful  pur- 
pose. At  noon  we  were  at  Sixty-Mile,  where  the  river  of  that 
name  enters  the  Yukon.  In  the  days  before  Dawson  existed  the 
trading  posts  on  the  river  were  named  according  to  their  dis- 
tance from  Fort  Reliance,  formerly  an  outpost  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company.  This  was  (>  miles  below  Dawson;  even  this 
explanation  will  not  elucidate  the  nomenclature,  for  it  is  48 
miles  from  Dawson  up  to  Sixty-Mile  and  it  is  52  miles  down  the 
river  from  Dawson  to  Forty-Mile.  The  differences  are  due  to 
early  guesses  as  to  distances.  At  Sixty-Mile  Joseph  Ladue  had 
a  store:  he  was  one  of  the  men  made  rich  and  famous  during 
the  rush.  The  old  road-house  and  police  station  are  deserted; 


COMING   UP   THE    FIVE    FINGER    RAPIDS. 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


only  a  telegraph  office  now  marks  this  famous  point  of  depar- 
ture in  Northern  exploration.  The  tributaries  of  the  Sixty- 
Mile  were  first  worked  for  gold  in  1886,  access  to  the  district 
being  obtained  by  ascending  Forty-Mile  creek  from  its  conflu- 
ence with  the  Yukon  and  thence  across  the  divide  separating 
Forty  from  Sixty-Mile.  This  was  the  first  systematic  mining 
in  the  Far  North.  Work  is  still  in  progress  on  Glacier  and 
Miller  creeks.  Dredging  has  been  started  successfully  on  the 
lower  reaches  of  Forty-Mile.  A  government  road  has  been 
built  from  the  Yukon,  opposite  Dawson,  to  Glacier  creek,  a  dis- 
tance of  73  miles. 

We  were  now  approaching  Dawson.  High  hills  enclosed  the 
river,  brush  covered  their  slopes,  and  small  trees  clustered  in 
every  protected  hollow  and  on  the  low-lying  flats.  On  the  right 
was  Indian  river  and  Henderson  creek,  with  memories  of  pio- 
neers and  rushes  that  proved  a  fizzle.  A  big  hill  came  into 
view;  it  was  the  famous  Dome.  The  line  of  the  Acklen  ditch 
appeared  across  the  face  of  the  hill  and  then  a  big  patch  of 
broken  rock  marking  the  landslide  behind  Dawson.  The 
steamer  ran  alongside  the  wharf  at  4  :  15  p.m.,  nearly  three 
days  after  leaving  White  Horse.  It  was  a  longer  trip  than 
usual,  for  one  of  the  engines  was  out  of  order;  but  that  seems 
a  small  matter  now.  We  had  reached  Dawson  ;  that  sufficed. 
Before  landing  I  took  off  my  hat,  mentally,  to  the  memory  of 
that  energetic  observer  and  capable  geologist,  one  of  the  scien- 
tific pathfinders  of  Canada,  after  whom  this  modern  Eldorado 
was  christened  —  George  M.  Dawson. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
DAWSON. 

A  stroll  through  Dawson  gives  an  impression  of  respecta- 
bility compelled  by  impoverishment,  of  the  temperance  that 
succeeds  dissipation,  of  the  bust  after  the  boom.  The  town 


IX   THE    ENVIRONS   OF   DAWSON. 

faces  the  river,  and  covers  a  flat  just  below  the  continence  of 
the  Klondike  with  the  Yukon.  The  high  ridge,  culminating  in 
the  Dome,  throws  a  protecting  shadow  over  the  straggling  set- 
tlement. The  streets  are  unpaved  black  loam,  luckily  dry  just 
now,  and  the  wooden  sidewalks,  in  places  rickety,  are  weather- 
beaten  but  clean.  The  main  street  follows  the  water-front  and 


184  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

the  wharves  are  more  numerous  than  required  by  the  dimin- 
ished traffic.  A  narrow-gauge  railway  that  goes  to  the  'creeks,' 
and  three  steamers  loading  or  unloading,  betoken  mining 
activity  not  far  away.  Overhead  the  tall  tower  of  the  ferry 
and  across  the  broad  river  the  catenary  curve  of  a  steel  cable 
mark  the  manner  in  which  a  crossing  is  effected.  Northward 
are  many  untenanted  buildings,  and  even  the  centre  of  the 
town  bears  a  bedraggled  appearance,  indicative  of  shrunken 
commerce.  During  the  boom  days  the  population  was  50,000 ; 
now  it  is  2000.  Dawson  looks  like  a  stout  man  who  has  grown 
very  thin  and  yet  wears  the  cloths  made  for  him  in  his  adipose 
days.  Although  it  has  been  difficult  for  Dawson  to  accommo- 
date itself  to  straightened  circumstances,  the  adaptation  has 
been  effected  heroically.  The  boom  has  gone,  but  business  re- 
mains. 

As  our  steamer  hove  alongside  the  wharf  there  was  a  big 
crowd  to  greet  the  incoming  passengers ;  the  sight  was  cheerful, 
but  it  indicated  that  the  spectators  had  spare  time  in  plenty.  A 
short  walk  led  to  the  Regina  hotel,  a  three-story  structure 
sheathed  in  gray  corrugated  iron.  Hideous  it  was,  but  the 
explanation  offered  a  satisfactory  excuse,  for  the  building  is 
made  of  logs  and  is  covered  with  iron  as  a  protection  against 
fire.  Inside  it  proved  to  be  an  attractive  wainscoted  hostelry. 

On  the  outskirts,  at  the  foot  of  the  green  slope  rising  to  the 
Dome,  are  clusters  of  little  log  cabins,  pretty  and  picturesque 
as  a  stage-setting,  with  overhanging  eaves  and  flowers.  Women 
in  white  frocks  and  a  sunny  cheery  look  in  the  faces  of  both 
man  and  Nature  all  bespeak  the  spring  following  a  long  winter. 
In  the  store  windows  fruit  is  offered  at  fabulous  prices;  also 
nugget  jewelry,*  and  furs.  Every  patch  of  soil  not  covered 


*In  a  jeweler's  store  a  flat  piece  of  gold,  about  the  size  of  a  man's 
hand,  was  on  exhibition.  This  was  found  in  the  summer  of  1903  at 
the  mouth  of  French  gulch  and  Eldorado  creek;  it  weighed  SG^-j 
ounces,  was  the  largest  nugget  ever  discovered  in  Canada,  and  was 
bought  by  Clarence  .1.  Berry  during  my  stay  at  Dawson.  Mr.  Berry 
was  one  of  the  first  men  to  come  with  gold  from  the  Klondike  in  the 
spring  of  1898  and  he  was  one  of  the  successful  ones  whose  story 
excited  the  world  at  that  time. 


186  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

by  dwellings  is  green  with  new  grass  and  bright  flowers.  Win- 
dow-boxes of  pansies  and  mignonette  lend  a  sentimental  aspect 
to  the  log-cabins.  Saloons  that  are  closed  and  the  Mounted 
Police  are  suggestive  of  cause  and  effect.  Nothing  rowdy  or 
exuberant  survives.  Dawson  looks  like  a  nicely  wrashed  young 
man  of  subdued  demeanor  who  gives  a  hint  that  he  has  been 
extremely  gay. 

Returning  to  the  hotel,  the  idea  of  dinner  looms  large.  Soon 
we  are  sitting  in  a  dark  low  wainscoted  room,  old-fashioned  and 
cozy,  beside  an  open  window,  affording  an  outlook  upon  green 
hillsides.  The  dinner  is  given  a  rare  distinction  by  the  intro- 
duction of  a  steak  that  looks  like  beef  and  tastes  like  venison, 
but  is  incomparably  superior  to  either.  It  is  young  moose, 
delicious  and  savory;  preceded  by  fresh  salmon  from  the 
Yukon  and  followed  by  a  good  cup  of  coffee,  plus  the  first 
cigar  for  a  week,  it  affords  keen  satisfaction.  I  shall  remember 
the  occasion  for  many  a  year.  Weary  of  the  steamer  and  the 
rough  people  on  board,  tired  of  canned  vegetables  and  a  dirty 
service,  it  was  good  to  be  on  land,  sitting  at  a  clean  table,  in 
congenial  company.  The  air  entering  the  window  was  of  ex- 
quisite purity — you  must  go  North  to  understand  that  this  is 
no  exaggeration — the  outlook  was  pleasant  and  restful,  and  in 
the  hall  of  the  hotel  a  band  played  'Sognando.'  It  was  not 
perfect  music,  but  it  served  an  excellent  purpose,  linking  the 
cheerful  present  to  the  happy  past.  Suffieit. 

Next  day  we  saw  a  little  more  of  the  town,  preparatory  to 
delivering  letters  of  introduction.  Dawson  has  several  large 
buildings,  being  the  capital  of  the  Yukon  Territory.  The  Ad- 
ministration building,  the  Court  House,  and  the  Commissioner's 
office  are  all  wooden  framed  structures  painted  a  neat  gray: 
sensible,  and  sightly.  A  Carnegie  library  enclosed  in  tin-plate, 
simulating  stone,  serves  as  an  ugly  monument  to  a  great  rebater 
desirous  of  notoriety.  The  barracks  of  the  Mounted  Police  and 
the  jail  or  'skookum  house'  are  built  of  uncovered  logs.  Ten 
years  ago  the  flat  and  the  lower  hill-slopes  were  covered  with 
trees,  all  of  which  were  rapidly  cut  down  as  necessity  required. 

Meeting  a  former  Dawsonian.  who  had  been  a  fellow-pas- 
senger on  the  \Vliili'  Horxi'.  he  began  to  bewail  the  quietness  of 


DAWSON. 


187 


the  town :  Oh !  for  the  '  old  days '  when  bars  and  dancing  saloons 
stretched  for  the  depth  of  a  whole  block,  from  street  to  street ; 
when  the  crowd  within  was  so  dense  that  it  took  half  an  hour 
to  go  from  the  front  to  the  back  door;  in  those  brave  times 
there  were  more  people  in  one  block  than  were  now  to  be  seen 
in  the  whole  town.  This  laudaior  temporis  acti  became  splendide 
mendax,  explaining  in  strong  vernacular  how  sic  transit  gloria 
inundi  and  the  deep  meaning  of  liinc  illae  lacrimae — all  of  which 


THE  REGINA  HOTEL,  DAWSON. 

goes  to  show  that  Latin  quotations  are  a  snare  and  delusion. 
Our  stray  acquaintance  continued  to  revert  to  the  'old  days'- 
ten  years  ago!  "She  was  a  hummer,  I  tell  you.  This  burg 
was  the  speediest  town  on  earth.  It  makes  me  feel  like  an  old 
man  who  knows  he  has  lost  his  opportunities.''  Let  not  the 
moralist  assume  that  it  was  the  opportunity  to  be  "speedy" 
that  he  regretted,  it  was  the  chance  to  become  rich  on  which 
he  chiefly  lingered.  But  we  refused  to  linger  mentally  with 
him.  This  'might  have  been'  bewailing  the  former  tinseled 


188 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


splendors  of  a  wide-open  boom  mining  camp  did  not  win  our 
sympathy — only  a  humorous  appreciation.  The  Dawson  of 
today  is  as  much  better  than  the  inferno  of  a  decade  ago  as 
sanity  is  better  than  folly,  as  sobriety  is  better  than  debauch- 
ery. The  quiet  neat  town  of  orderly  people,  under  an  incor- 
ruptible police,  and  a  competent  administration,  is  not  for  one 
moment  to  be  compared  with  the  rabble  of  excited  adventurers 
and  degraded  women  who  made  the  Arctic  a  hotter  place  than 
the  tropics.  Let  the  panegyrist  of  the  past  go,  with  his  regrets 
for  wasted  opportunity  and  his  memories  of  besotted  fooleries ; 
in  his  stead  is  the  intelligent  engineer,  the  quiet  man  of  busi- 
ness, and  the  orderly  conduct  of  a  civilized  community. 


•Sketc 


of  the 

Klondike  Regio 


of  jojn*  of  /n*  Crstt  ck/ms  t/v  tr>&/c*fvtj  by  ffit 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
THE  GOLD  OF  THE  KLONDIKE. 

When  George  Carmack  found  gold  on  Bonanza  creek  on 
August  17,  1896,  he  started  a  stampede  of  world-wide  interest. 
The  rush  to  the  Klondike,  due  to  this  discovery  and  to  others 
that  ensued,  was  the  greatest  wave  of  adventure  since  the  days 
of  1849  and  1851,  when  California  and  Australia  lured  the 
gold-seeker  to  the  conquest  of  the  wilderness. 

Two  men  figure  in  the  story :  Carmack  and  Henderson. 
Carmack  was  a  fisherman,  with  an  Indian  squaw ;  he  had  a  sort 
of  trading  post  on  the  Yukon  20  miles  above  the  Crossing. 
Bob  Henderson  was  a  nondescript  prospector  living  at  Sixty- 
Mile  ;  he  and  three  others  found  gold  on  a  tributary  of  Hunker 
creek  called  Gold  Bottom,  in  the  summer  of  1896.  Henderson 
is  believed  to  have  been  commissioned  by  Harper  and  Ladue, 
who  kept  a  store  at  Sixty-Mile,  now  known  as  Ogilvie,  to  create 
local  excitement  by  going  through  the  motions  of  finding  pay- 
gravel.  In  the  history  of  the  North  this  motive  is  frequent ; 
when  business  became  dull  the  owner  of  a  store  or  trading  post 
would  send  out  prospectors  to  start  an  excitement  for  the 
stimulation  of  local  trade.  However  that  may  be,  Henderson 
went  prospecting  on  the  streams  tributary  to  the  Klondike 
river,  and  found  gold  on  a  branch  of  Hunker  creek,  which  he 
reached  by  going  up  Indian  river,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
water-shed,  as  is  shown  by  the  accompanying  map. 

At  this  time  Carmack  was  fishing  for  salmon  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Klondike,  which  enters  the  Yukon  where  Dawson  now 
stands.  Bonanza  creek  joins  the  Klondike  two  miles  above 
the  junction  of  the  Klondike  and  the  Yukon.  Carmack,  being 
short  of  fresh  meat,  went  with  his  Indian  companions.  Skookum 


190  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Jim,  Indian  Pete,  and  Tagish  Charlie,  to  Bonanza  creek  on  a 
hunting  expedition.  Bonanza  creek  at  that  time  was  known  to 
Indians  and  prospectors  as  a  likely  place  for  moose.  Carmack 
and  his  friends  knew  that  four  white  men  were  working  on 
Gold  Bottom,  so  they  decided  to  cross  the  divide  and  pay  them 
a  visit,  probably  selling  them  some  of  the  fresh  meat  they  had 
obtained  by  hunting.  Henderson  and  his  partners  were  not 
getting  much  gold  and  Carmack  soon  returned  to  his  camp. 
Having  seen  the  mining  done  by  the  four  men  on  Gold  Bottom, 
he  got  the  idea  of  doing  a  little  prospecting  himself  on  his  re- 
turn down  Bonanza  creek,  and  he  actually  found  gold  on  the 
rim  of  the  bedrock  projecting  above  the  creek.  This  rich  spot 
proved  later  to  be  only  a  patch  20  feet  square.  He  did  not 
test  the  creek-bottom,  for  he  did  not  know  how,  but  he  did 
make  a  location,  and  he  knew  enough  to  go  at  once  down  the 
Yukon  to  Forty-Mile,  which  was  the  nearest  recording  office. 
He  recorded  his  discovery  claim  and  also  the  claims  located  by 
the  three  Indians.  He  exhibited  the  gold  he  had  found  on  the 
rim-rock,  but  the  miners  at  Forty-Mile  were  sceptical  as  to  the 
genuineness  of  the  discovery.  They  had  been  fooled  too  often 
by  discoveries  concocted  in  the  interest  of  store-keepers.  But 
it  happened  that  one  wise  head  compared  Carmack 's  gold  with 
that  of  Forty-Mile,  and  he  noticed  a  difference  in  the  quality, 
for  the  Bonanza  creek  gold  contains  more  silver.  On  this  evi- 
dence it  was  decided  that  Carmack 's  story  must  be  true. 

A  quiet  'rush'  began.  David  Mackay,  Daniel  McGillivray, 
and  Harry  Waugh  were  the  first  to  start.  They  staked  No.  14 
Below  Discovery  on  Bonanza,  where  they  themselves  found 
gold  on  a  shallow  bar  of  gravel,  known  later  as  Poverty  Bar, 
an  intermediate  or  secondary  bench  deposit.  Eventually  each 
of  these  three  men  made  a  fortune.  Andrew  Hunker  came  up 
the  river  later  in  the  fall,  and  staked  a  claim  on  No.  24  Below, 
and  then  went  over  the  divide  from  Bonanza  creek  to  Gold 
Bottom ;  from  there  he  proceeded  with  his  partner  Johnson 
up  what  is  now  called  Hunker  creek,  panning  the  gravel  as  he 
advanced.  His  idea  was  to  go  over  the  divide  in  order  to  reach 
the  headwaters  of  a  creek  entering  the  Klondike  some  25  miles 
above  the  mouth  of  Hunker,  and  even  then  known  bv  the 


CARMACK'S   STAKES. 

The   posts    that   marked   the   Discovery    on    Bonanza   ("reek. 


192  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

mythical  name  of  All  Gold.  In  one  of  his  pamiings  he  hap- 
pened to  find  a  reef  of  high  bedrock  exposed  in  the  creek-bot- 
tom at  the  place  now  known  as  Discovery  on  Hunker,  and  from 
this  spot  he  obtained  over  $25  in  coarse  gold.  He  and  Johnson 
then  staked  three  claims,  namely,  Discovery,  No.  1  Above,  and 
No.  1  Below.  They  went  back,  as  they  had  come,  by  way  of 
Gold  Bottom,  and  told  Henderson  and  his  partners  what  they 
had  found.  Thereupon,  a  number  of  men,  including  the 
original  four  from  Gold  Bottom,  staked  rich  claims  on  Hunker 
creek. 

The  excitement  caused  by  Carmack's  and  Hunker's  discov- 
eries had  spread  throughout  the  upper  Yukon ;  the  few  settlers 
at  Circle  City  and  Forty-Mile  all  came  up  the  river  and  staked 
Eldorado,  Hunker,  Bonanza,  and  their  tributary  streams.  Up 
to  this  time  all  the  pay  had  been  found  on  the  upper  reaches 
of  the  gulches  and  those  who  staked  on  the  lower  portion  of 
Bonanza  and  Hunker  were  considered  crazy.  It  was  thought 
impossible  that  the  run  of  gold  could  extend  so  far. 

During  the  winter  following  these  events,  that  is,  the  win- 
ter of  1896- '97,  nearly  everybody  who  had  a  claim  on  the  creeks 
went  to  work  and  soon  demonstrated  the  extraordinary  rich- 
ness of  the  ground.  It  was  not  until  the  summer  of  '97  that 
the  high-level  benches  were  investigated.  In  July  Burk  and 
Hensley  made  a  discovery  on  the  bench  opposite  No.  5  on  El- 
dorado. One  of  the  first  men  to  start  the  bench  diggings  was 
Bill  Gates,  commonly  known  as  Swiftwater  Bill,  because  he  was 
fond  of  talking  about  the  kind  of  boat  best  fitted  to  go  through 
swift  water.  He  paid  a  man  to  prospect  a  high  bench  on  the  left 
'limit'  of  13  Eldorado,  but  unfortunately  this  man  struck  a  spot 
where  there  was  no  gold  to  amount  to  anything.  Skiff  Mitchell 
was  the  next  man  to  prospect  on  the  high  bench.  In  July  he  sent 
Lancaster  and  Stimson  to  do  some  work  on  Gold  hill,  opposite 
his  own  claim  of  No.  1  Eldorado.  Lancaster  and  Stimson 's 
two  claims  of  100  feet  square  each  proved  eventually  to  be 
rnarvelously  rich,  but  they  did  not  know  it  at  the  time  they 
•  lid  their  first  work,  in  the  fall  of  1897.  Probably  $300,000  was 
taken  out  of  these  two  small  claims.  There  was  a  record  of 
$2700  for  OIK-  djiv's  bibor  bv  two  men.  one  trundling  a  wheel- 


OLD  GOLD  CREEK. 
One  of  the  streams  tributary  to  the  Klondike 


194  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

barrow  while  the  other  manipulated  the  rocker.  Lancaster  had 
a  letter  of  introduction  to  Mitchell  and  the  hint  to  go  up  the 
hill  was  given  in  goodwill.  At  first,  as  stated,  Lancaster  and 
Stimson  were  not  successful;  but  an  immensely  rich  strike  by 
Xels  Petersen  and  X.  Kresge  on  the  other  side  of  Gold  hill, 
near  the  mouth  of  Skookum  gulch,  gave  a  fierce  impetus  to 
prospecting  along  the  upper  slopes  of  Bonanza  creek. 

Peterseu  and  Kresge  struck  it  on  September  5,  1897.  On 
the  day  of  discovery  they  picked  up  $29  in  coarse  gold,  and 
in  10  days  they  obtained  $6375  by  the  use  of  a  rocker  from  a 
claim  100  feet  square.  On  the  second  afternoon  they  are  said 
to  have  gathered  $1100  in  nuggets  lying  just  under  the  moss. 
They  extracted  $12,000  from  this  claim  and  then  sold  it,  in 
November  following,  for  $40.000.  Mr.  Kresge,  whom  I  met  at 
Fairbanks,  showed  me  a  nugget  containing  $41  in  gold  mixed 
with  double  the  proportion  of  quartz,  the  gold  veining  the 
quartz  beautifully.  The  gold  taken  out  by  this  prospector  and 
his  partner  was  found  chiefly  in  the  crevices  of  the  bedrock ; 
coarse  gold  was  found  as  much  as  8  feet  down  between  the 
slabs  of  schist.  Later  workers  penetrated  16  feet  into  the  bed- 
rock before  it  ceased  to  be  profitable  to  dig  deeper. 

The  success  of  Kresge  and  Petersen  led  Lancaster  and  Stim- 
son to  test  the  upper  portions  of  their  claim,  where  they  also 
found  rich  pay.  Shortly  afterward  William  Dietering  (or 
Caribou  Bill,  as  he  was  generally  known)  located  a  bench 
claim  on  the  other  side  of  Skookum  gulch,  but  he  did  not  find 
much.  lie  became  short  of  grub  and  sold  a  half  interest  in  his 
claim  for  a  few  sacks  of  flour  and  some  bacon.  His  partner 
(Small)  neither  worked  nor  put  a  man  to  work,  so  they  agreed 
to  sell  for  $3000  to  Chase  and  Campbell.  These  two  pros- 
pected deeper  into  the  bedrock,  and  at  the  first  'thaw'  they 
took  out  $200.  They  sold  the  claim  for  $12,000. 

Caribou  Bill  was  an  experienced  miner  from  British  Colum- 
bia and  he  had  a  good  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  alluvial 
deposits  are  disposed.  As  soon  as  he  had  made  a  little  money 
lie  grubstaked  men  to  test  the  hillslopes  for  bench-gravels: 
thus  he  found  gold  on  French  hill,  on  Oro  Grande,  and  on 
Little  Skookum.  Two  other  old  hands  from  the  Caribou. 


THE  GOLD  OF  THE  KLONDIKE.  195 

named  Morrow  and  McCrimmon,  sank  a  100-foot  shaft  on  the 
top  of  Gold  hill  and  found  rich  gravel.  This  was  in  June  1898. 
Then  the  stampede  for  the  hills  became  general  and  by  the 
end  of  the  summer  of  1898  all  the  high  gravel  deposits  were 
covered  with  locations  and  work  had  begun.  Thus  the  won- 
derful terrace  of  white  gravel  flanking  the  slopes  of  Bonanza 
creek,  down  to  the  Klondike,  became  recognized  under  the 
name  of  the  White  Channel.  A  year  later  similar  benches 
were  found  on  Hunker  creek. 

And  gold  was  found  in  astonishing  quantity.  On  a  day  of 
June  1899  no  less  than  29  pack-horses  came  into  Dawson  from 
'the  creeks,'  bringing  gold  belonging  to  one  man,  Alec  Mac- 
donald,  a  Nova  Scotian,  supposed  at  one  time  to  be  worth 
$7,000,000.  But  he  lost  most  of  it  before  he  died— last  winter. 

Those  who  came  to  Dawson  with  the  'rush'  at  the  end  of 
1897  and  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year  were  too  late. 
All  the  best  ground  had  already  been  staked.  They  had  to 
buy  claims  or  work  for  wages.  During  the  winter  of  1898- '99 
there  were  fully  10,000  idle  and  destitute  men  at  Dawson. 

Many  stories  are  told  of  those  days.  Some  of  these  are 
humorous.  Thus,  there  was  a  Swede  named  Charles  Anderson. 
He  was  an  ignorant  man  living  at  Forty-Mile,  where  he  had 
saved  $600  from  wages  earned  as  a  pick-and-shovel  miner. 
Being  drunk  one  day  he  was  persuaded  by  two  old  prospectors 
to  buy  a  claim,  No.  29  Eldorado,  for  the  aforesaid  $600.  The 
morning  after  the  Swede  found  himself  with  a  headache,  less 
$600,  and  he  begged  for  his  money  to  be  given  back.  He  was 
frantic.  But  to  no  avail.  The  two  perpetrators  went  prospect- 
ing on  Quartz  creek,  while  Anderson  decided  that  the  only 
thing  for  him  to  do  was  to  test  his  claim.  He  said:  "Ay  tank 
Ay  go  to  work."  He  traversed  the  80  miles  from  Forty-Mile 
to  his  claim  and  then  went  18  feet  farther,  to  bedrock,  where 
he  found  a  fortune!  Just  at  the  psychological  moment  there 
came  the  two  wise  men  from  Quartz  creek  on  their  way  to  the 
little  settlement  at  Dawson.  They  passed  the  Swede  and  saw 
that  he  was  panning,  so  they  stopped  to  ask  him,  in  jest,  if  he 
had  found  anything.  He  answered:  "Ay  tank  Ay  got  some 
gold  here."  and  showed  them  a  pan  with  $1400  in  it.  This 


196  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

claim  yielded  about  $1,250,000;  the  purchase  for  $600  was  a 
good  one. 

As  a  reward  for  his  part  in  making  the  discovery  of  gold, 
with  Carmack,  the  Indian  known  as  Tagish  Charlie  was  made 
a  citizen  by  the  Canadian  government.  This  gave  him  the  right 
to  buy  a  drink,  all  other  Indians  being  prohibited  from  doing 
so,  for  it  is  illegal  to  sell  liquor  to  the  natives.  Tagish  Charlie 
has  always  been  proud  to  assert  his  unique  privilege  and  loves 
to  order  drinks  for  anyone  that  happens  along.  In  conse- 
quence, he  spends  much  of  his  valuable  time  in  the  'skookum 
house,'  otherwise  called  a  jail.  Skookum  Jim  and  Tagish 
Charlie  were  the  brothers  of  Carmack 's  squaw.  After  living 
with  this  Indian  woman  for  many  years,  Carmack  abandoned 
her  and  his  half-breed  children.  For  this  disloyalty  he  was 
disliked  by  the  'old  timers.' 

In  the  winter  of  1902-03  on  No.  28  Above  on  Bonanza,  in  a 
piece  of  ground  only  40  by  60  feet,  four  'lay-men'  took  out 
$208,000  on  a  50%  lay.  The  gravel  averaged  $10  per  bucket 
(equal  to  6  pans).  Thus  these  four  men  got  $104,000  in  one 
winter.  Three  of  them  worked  in  the  shaft  and  one  above- 
ground,  at  the  windlass.  As  the  time  was  four  months  and  the 
total  cost  of  labor  about  $5000,  the  net  profit  was  close  to 
$100.000.  By  their  agreement  writh  the  owner  they  could  hire 
no  more  men,  only  four  workers  being  allowed.  These  fellows 
went  to  the  Tanana  diggings  and  lost  what  they  had  made  so 
easily  on  Bonanza. 

The  'ladies  of  adventure'  made  lots  of  money  at  Dawson, 
some  of  them  'cleaned  up'  from  $25,000  to  $100.000.  They  got 
an  interest  in  claims  with  the  diggers  and  even  married  them. 
Others,  returning  to  'the  States'  bought  land  at  Seattle  and 
doubled  their  stake.  Gambling,  however,  ruined  many  of  the 
prostitutes,  as  it  did  their  consorts;  and  with  the  dissipated 
of  both  sexes  the  money  was  lost  usually  when  they  were 
drunk.  These  facts  are  not  romantic,  but  they  throw  a  side 
light  on  the  real  life  of  a  'boom  camp.' 

Dick  Lowe  and  his  fraction  contributed  to  the  romance  of 
the  Yukon.  When  Ogilvie  was  running  a  base-line  for  the 
Dominion  Government,  his  party  of  surveyors  included  Dick 


THE  GOLD  OF  THE  KLONDIKE.  197 

Lowe.  One  day  when  Lowe  was  carrying  the  chain  for  Ogilvie 
the  latter  found  that  a  claim-holder  had  staked  more  than  the 
500  feet  allowed  by  law,  and  there  was  a  fraction  86  feet  4 
inches  long  that  had  thereby  become  subject  to  location.  Ogilvie 
told  Lowe  to  stake  the  86  feet,  but  Lowe  demurred  at  first,  not 
wishing  to  lose  his  'rights. '  For  no  man  could  locate  more  than 
one  claim  in  any  one  of  the  two  mining  districts,  the  Klondike 
and  Dominion.  However,  Lowe  did  stake  the  fraction.  He 
cleaned  up  $46,000  from  the  bedrock  in  8  hours.  He  paid  the 
Government  tax  on  $346,000,  and  it  is  probable  that  this  small 
claim  yielded  $500,000.  It  has  been  said  that  Dick  Lowe  took 
$750,000  out  of  his  86-foot  fraction,  but  the  smaller  figure 


TRANSPORT   OF  SUPPLIES. 

given  is  more  likely  to  be  correct.  The  mine  was  run  in  a  care- 
less way.  All  sorts  of  people  made  clean-ups  and  gave  away 
nuggets.  One  pan  yielded  $900.  The  ground  was  so  rich  that 
in  order  to  prevent  trespass  a  wire  wras  swung  along  the  boun- 
dary line  between  the  Dick  Lowe  fraction  and  No.  2  Below; 
the  ownership  of  a  nugget  lying  on  the  line  was  determined  by 
a  plumb-bob  sliding  on  the  wire,  the  nugget  going  to  the  side 
on  which  the  larger  part  of  it  lay.  Nearly  as  much  gold  as  was 
saved  is  supposed  to  have  been  stolen,  for  Lowe  was  drunk 
most  of  the  time.  He  went  to  Fairbanks  in  1905 ;  but  being  un- 
successful, he  soon  became  poor.  He  returned  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, where  he  died  in  1907  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  James  Hall, 
who  cared  for  him  during  his  last  davs.  Dick  Lowe  is  said  on 


198  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

one  occasion  to  have  thrown  as  much  as  $10,000  on  the  bar 
and  invited  all  the  riff-raff  of  prostitution  to  drink  with  him, 
but  he  never  helped  a  friend  in  need.  "He  was  just  naturally 
r//////.s\ "  An  expressive  epitaph  and  an  inexpressibly  pathetic 
sequel  to  the  winning  of  much  gold. 

In  the  spring  of  '98  there  were  but  few  things  that  could 
be  bought  for  less  than  50  cents.  Eggs  were  worth  $18  per 
dozen ;  potatoes,  $1  per  pound ;  beef,  $1  per  pound  on  the  hoof. 
Ten  head  of  steers,  brought  down  the  river  from  White  Horse, 
sold  for  $11.000.  The  first  chickens  (weighing  4  pounds  apiece) 
fetched  $10  each.  Two  crates  of  cats  sold  at  $25  per  cat.  al- 
though they  had  been  collected  at  Vancouver  by  boys  who  re- 
ceived 15  to  20  cents  for  them.  Labor  cost  $1.50  per  hour  and 
men  earned  $15  per  day.  But  a  pint  of  champagne  fetched  $15 
also.  At  the  Forks  the  diggers  paid  $1.50  for  each  dance  with 
the  'ladies  of  adventure' — a  dance  that  lasted  two  or  three 
minutes.  For  this  $1.50  the  man  got  a  drink  and  the  girl  had 
one  also,  the  latter  receiving  a  commission  of  50  per  cent  of 
the  payment.  Men  would  spend  $100  in  a  night  in  mere  danc- 
ing, without  ordering  'wine'  or  gambling.  Beer  sold  for  $7.50 
per  pint,  and  many  were  the  fools  that  paid  for  it.  Some  of 
the  brightest  fellows  lost  their  senses  and  after  a  hard  day's 
work  would  plunge  into  silly  carousals  that  cost  hundreds,  even 
thousands,  of  dollars.  It  was  the  old  story  of  money  easily 
made  and  easily  spent :  only  a  few  men  of  character  withstood 
the  temptations  of  the  gambler  and  the  prostitute,  retained  the 
gold  won  by  hard  work,  and  returned  to  their  homes,  the 
stronger  and  the  better  for  the  experience.  To  them  the 
Klondike  rush  was  a  truly  romantic  episode. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  DIGGINGS. 

'Klondike'  is  a  corruption  of  Tliroii-duick,  meaning  plenty  of 
fish,  for  here  the  Indians  had  a  fishing  camp  long  before  the 
gold  was  found.  In  1887  Ogilvie  reported:  "The  Indians- 
catch  great  numbers  of  salmon  here.  A  miner  has  prospected 
up  this  river  for  an  estimated  distance  of  forty  miles.  I  did 
not  see  him."  In  1896  Joseph  Ladue  built  a  shanty  and  started 
a  store  at  the  mouth  of  the  Thron-duick  or  Klondike  river,  in- 
tending to  use  it  as  a  branch  of  his  trading  post  at  Sixty-Mile. 
When  the  discoveries  of  gold  were  made  in  the  summer  of  that 
year,  the  land  on  which  he  had  squatted  became  valuable  for 
town-lots.  He  made  a  fortune,  of  course.  On  July  14,  1897,  the 
Excelsior  reached  San  Francisco  with  the  news  of  fabulous  finds 
in  the  North.  She  brought  half  a  million  dollars  in  gold  and 
was  the  first  of  the  treasure-ships  that  entered  the  Golden  Gate 
like  Spanish  gallions  of  the  olden  days.  Whatever  doubt  there 
may  have  been  concerning  the  truth  of  the  stories  brought  by 
her  passengers,  was  removed  when  three  days  later  the  Portland 
reached  Seattle  with  more  than  $1,000,000  of  gold  on  board. 
That  was  enough.  The  news  was  flashed  around  the  world  and 
from  every  quarter  of  the  globe  eager  men  rushed  toward  the 
Klondike  in  the  hope  of  winning  a  fortune. 

In  the  summer  of  1908  there  were  about  6000  people  in  the 
district  about  Dawson,  one-third  of  these  being  residents  of  the 
town.  The  mining  activity  of  the  Klondike  and  its  tributary 
creeks  had  undergone  concentration  through  the  consolidation 
of  claims  acquired  by  the  Yukon  Gold  Company.  On  the  south 
side  of  the  divide,  that  is,  on  Dominion.  Sulphur,  Quartz,  and 
adjacent  creeks,  the  ordinary  small  operations  were  being  con- 


•2()0  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

tinned,-  but  on  the  north  side,  along  Bonanza,  Eldorado,  and 
Hunker  creeks,  the  big  company  controlled  by  the  Guggen- 
heims  had  secured  so  much  property  as  to  diminish  individual 
activity  to  insignificant  proportions.  In  the  meantime  the 
Yukon  Gold  Company  was  carrying  out  important  undertak- 
ings requiring  lots  of  capital  and  the  skill  of  the  best  engineers. 
Much  was  said  about  the  Guggenheims  and  their  representa- 
tives and  many  of  the  'old  timers'  sneered  at  their  free  spend- 
ing of  money  and  the  new  ideas  introduced  into  Northern 
mining.  With  such  an  attitude  I  have  no  sympathy,  for,  while 
holding  no  brief  for  the  clever  Hebrews  who  have  won  so  domi- 
nant a  position  in  the  American  mining  industry,  I  know  the 
engineers  in  their  employ  to  be  professional  men  of  the  highest 
standing  and  of  ample  experience. 

The  Yukon  Gold  Company  illustrates  many  interesting 
features  in  mine  operation  and  mine  finance.  After  individu- 
als and  small  syndicates  had  hastily  garnered  the  gold  in  the 
richest  claims  and  had  proved  the  existence  of  gold-bearing  de- 
posits in  the  creeks  and  on  the  hillsides  above  them,  an  enter- 
prising Englishman,  named  A.  N.  C.  Treadgold,  succeeded,  by 
persistence  and  obstinate  good  sense,  in  obtaining  options  on 
enough  ground  to  form  the  nucleus  of  a  big  mining  enterprise 
on  the  Klondike  watershed.  Some  of  this  ground  he  secured 
during  the  boom  days,  but,  seeing  the  extravagance  of  the 
mining  methods,  he  advised  his  English  clients  not  to  exploit 
their  mines,  but  to  await  the  reduction  of  cost  and  the  improve- 
ment of  method  that  always  succeeds  the  first  year  or  two  of 
prolific  production.  When  his  English  backers  lost  patience, 
he  enlisted  the  financial  participation  of  the  Guggenheims, 
themselves  aided  in  this  venture  by  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  and 
thus  the  Yukon  Gold  Co.  was  organized  in  1906.  More  claims 
wore  bought  outright,  options  were  obtained  on  others,  ex- 
aminations and  surveys  were  quickly  made,  and  a  large  scheme 
of  operation  outlined.  By  the  end  of  1907  not  less  than  $8,220.- 
000  had  been  spent  and  since  then  fully  $3,000,000  more.  In 
April  1908  the  enterprise  was  discredited  by  a  fiasco,  700,000 
shares  (out  of  the  3.500,000  shares  at  $5  par  value)  being 
offered  to  the  public  through  the  medium  of  flamboyant  and 


202  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

meretricious  advertising  on  the  part  of  an  irresponsible  stock- 
jobber named  Thomas  W.  Lawson,  of  Boston.  The  issue  was  a 
fizzle,  only  about  300,000  shares  were  placed,  at  prices  ranging 
about  $6,  and  the  quotation  dropped  quickly  to  $3.50.  This 
flash-in-the-pan  of  speculation  and  attempt  to  use  a  legitimate 
enterprise  for  improper  purposes  hurt  the  name  of  the  Yukon 
Gold  Co..  injured  the  reputation  of  the  Guggenheims.  and 
brought  discredit  on  an  undertaking  of  great  importance  to 
the  future  development  of  the  Yukon  Territory.  It  is  my  sin- 
cere hope  that  the  vagaries  of  a  queer  kind  of  financial  leger- 
demain will  not  imperil  the  success  of  an  engineering  work  of 
the  greatest  utility  and  that  it  may  be  carried  to  completion 
under  the  direction  of  0.  B.  Perry,  the  consulting  engineer, 
and  Chester  A.  Thomas,  the  resident  manager. 

In  this  book  there  is  no  place  for  technical  details,  so  I  shall 
give  only  a  general  description  of  the  work  as  I  saw  it.  Any- 
one wranting  technical  information  on  the  subject  will  find  it 
elsewhere.*  In  order  to  find  room  for  the  'tailing'  or  waste 
resulting  from  the  mining  of  the  deposits  on  the  hillside  it  is 
necessary  to  own  the  valley  below.  Thus,  before  commencing 
to  exploit  the  bench  gravels  it  is  imperative  that  dumping 
facilities  be  obtained  by  acquiring  the  claims  along  the  creeks; 
having  acquired  these,  it  is  necessary  to  work  out  the  gold- 
bearing  gravels  contained  in  the  latter  before  covering  them 
with  the  debris  from  above.  Hence  dredging  and  other 
methods  of  working  the  creek  gravel  were  started  at  once, 
with  a  view  to  extracting  the  gold  and  preparing  for  the  wash- 
ing of  the  bench  gravel  when  sufficieiit  water  under  pressure 
became  available.  To  do  this  a  conduit  had  to  be  built  bring- 
ing water  a  distance  of  70  miles  and  delivering  it  by  pipe  under 
a  head  of  350  feet.  While  the  ditch  was  being  built,  an  electric 
power-plant  was  erected  and  the  energy  transmitted  to  the 
dredges  and  other  machinery  by  means  of  a  line  35  miles  long. 
In  July  1908  I  found  seven  dredges  at  work,  a  large  reservoir 
had  been  finished,  the  power-plant  was  in  service,  the  ditch 

*Minin<t  anil  Scientific  Press.  August  29,  September  12,  and  De- 
cember 20.  190X.  January  9,  lf>,  and  2::,  1909. 


204  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

was  approaching  completion,  and  operations  of  a  wide-spread 
and  highly  technical  character  were  being  conducted  systemat- 
ically but  with  feverish  haste,  both  by  day  and  by  night. 

On  July  14  I  had  a  first  glimpse  of  the  celebrated  diggings. 
It  was  a  fine  sunny  day,  with  the  thermometer  at  85 °F.  in  the 
shade.  We  drove  along  the  road  built  by  the  Territorial  gov- 
ernment, over  the  Ogilvie  bridge,  which  spans  the  Klondike 
and  is  named  after  William  Ogilvie,  the  first  Commissioner  or 
Governor  of  the  Territory.  Near  the  bridge  the  Williams  or 
Bonanza  Basin  dredge  was  digging  the  bed  of  the  Klondike ; 
just  above  the  point  where  Bonanza  creek  joins  the  Klondike, 
we  saw  the  No.  1  and  No.  2  dredges  of  the  Yukon  Gold  Co., 
one  digging  and  the  other  idle  pending  a  clean-up.  The  famous 
valley  belied  its  reputation.  All  was  strangely  quiet.  The 
former  workings  are  largely  obliterated  by  a  growth  of  brush 
and  the  destruction  of  buildings  erected  during  the  busy  days. 
In  a  country  where  lumber  and  fire-wood  are  expensive,  un- 
used buildings  are  pulled  down  without  delay  for  use  as  fuel. 
The  'creek'  has  the  appearance  of  a  mining  camp  of  50  years 
ago  instead  of  one  that  was  at  the  zenith  of  its  glory  barely 
10  years  past.  Even  claims  worked  two  years  ago  look  as  if 
they  had  not  been  touched  for  twenty,  for  the  winter  snows 
and  the  spring  vegetation  quickly  heal  the  scars  made  by  man. 
It  is  difficult  to  realize  that  this  quiet  valley,  between  rounded 
green  hillsides,  even  though  marked  by  open  workings,  was 
lately  the  scene  of  fierce  activity,  intense  hurry,  and  an  aston- 
ishing production  of  gold.  In  those  days  the  work  of  mining 
was  done  by  digging  holes  in  the  frozen  gravel,  using  wood 
fires  to  thaw  the  ice  and  soften  the  ground,  so  that  it  could 
be  excavated  with  pick  and  shovel.  If  you  had  gone  up  the 
narrow  valleys  of  Bonanza  and  Hunker  during  the  long  twi- 
light of  the  arctic  winter  ten  years  ago  you  would  have  seen 
a  picture  worthy  of  Gustavo  Dore.  There  was  no  noise,  for 
there  was  no  machinery:  there  were  no  whistles  to  announce 
the  noon  hour  or  the  evening  rest:  there  was  no  drilling  in 
hard  rock  nor  cheerful  hammering.  A  weird  silence  brooded 
over  the  waste  of  snow.  The  gloom  was  thickened  by  a  pall 
of  smoke  escaping  from  holes  in  the  ground,  whence  an  occas- 


206  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

ional  figure  issued.  Not  many  men  were  visible,  for  they  were 
below  in  the  rabbit  warren  of  their  diggings.  At  the  top  of  a 
shaft,  here  and  there,  a  weary  gnome  might  be  espied  turning 
a  windlass  and  emptying  buckets  loaded  with  dirt  that  came 
from  a  small  pit  beneath.  The  flare  of  red  fires  parting  the 
twilight  marked  the  beginning  of  the  work  of  shaft-sinking. 
The  snow,  the  moss,  and  the  fog  muffled  every  foot-fall,  dead- 
ened every  sound.  It  looked  like  hell — but  it  was  freezing. 

In  the  foregoing  account  I  have  used  several  technical 
terms,  the  explanation  of  which  will  throw  a  light  on  the  local 
conditions.  At  the  time  of  the  first  discoveries  a  placer  claim 
was  500  feet  long  measured  in  the  direction  of  the  creek,  for 
the*  full  width  of  the  creek.  These  dimensions  were  subse- 
quently changed  so  often  as  to  intimidate  speculators.  The 
prospector  who  made  the  first  find  of  gold  was  entitled  to  an 
extra  claim,  as  a  reward.  This  was  the  Discovery  claim.  From 
it  all  others  took  their  station,  thus  the  third  claim  above  the 
Discovery  claim  was  called  No.  3  Above:  the  name  of  the  creek 
being  added,  it  became  Xo.  3  Above  on  Bonanza.  If  below  the 
Discovery,  then  it  was  Xo.  3  Below.  The  sides  of  the  valley 
were  termed  the  'limits'  of  the  creek,  so  that  "the  right  limit" 
meant  the  right  bank  going  down-stream.  A  royalty  of  10  per 
cent  "on  the  gold  mined"  was  collected  by  the  (Jovernment  of 
Canada.  Xo  miner  could  receive  "a  grant  of  more  than  one 
mining  claim  in  a  mining  district."  but  he  could  also  stake 
one  hill  claim.  This  was  done  to  prevent  a  few  men  pegging 
the  whole  country:  and  yet  the  law  was  evaded,  so  that  the 
regulations  were  subsequently  modified.  I  quote  them  as  en- 
forced  during  1898. 

In  addition  to  terms  connected  with  the  ownership  of  min- 
ing claims.  1  have  been  compelled  to  use  words  strange  to  an 
untechnical  reader:  as  I  wish  to  hold  his  interest  in  a  further 
description  of  the  methods  of  mining.  1  shall  furnish  him  with 
the  necessary  glossary.  It  is  a  courtesy  that  the  author  owes 
to  those  who  mentally  travel  with  him. 

Each  mining  region  has  its  own  local  terms,  originating 
from  the  interplay  of  peculiar  men  and  peculiar  conditions. 
Some  of  these  terms  are  expressive:  indeed,  they  may  be  so 


THE  DIGGINGS.  207 

expressive  as  to  become  a  necessary  part  of  a  telling  descrip- 
tion. Other  terms  by  their  wide  applicability  become  service- 
able in  regions  beyond  the  place  of  their  birth  and  pass  into 
the  linguistic  heritage  of  the  race.  Others  again  are  merely 
the  vulgarisms  of  the  moment  or  the  provincialisms  of  unedu- 
cated men,  and  the  sooner  they  are  thrown  over  the  scrap-heap 
the  better. 

The  arctic  moss  that  carpets  the  northern  wild  is  called 
'tundra';  this  is  a  Russian  word  and  was  borrowed  from 
Siberia.  The  dirty  blanket  of  frozen  mould  that  covers  the 
face  of  the  North  is  called  'muck.'  Under  a  few  inches  of  dull 
green  moss  there  is  a  thickness,  varying  according  to  locality 
and  exposure,  of  ice,  in  which  are  embedded  fragments  of 
roots,  moss,  mould,  and  rock  debris.  In  a  temperate  climate 
this  would  mean  a  layer  of  soil ;  in  the  North,  it  means  a  much 
greater  thickness  of  black  ice,  which  thaws  to  a  liquid  mud. 
Fully  60%  of  the  'muck'  is  water,  the  remainder  is  mostly 
organic  material  light  enough  to  float.  It  is  present  every- 
where ;  and  as  it  is  ubiquitous  in  the  topography  so  it  is  also 
omnipresent  in  speech.  There  is  no  synonym  to  replace 
'muck';  mud  will  not  serve,  for  it  is  not  mud;  'mud'  is  moist- 
ened earth;  'loam,'  'soil,'  'mould,'  and  the  like  do  not  express 
the  frozen  condition.  It  is  true,  'muck'  signifies  nothing  to 
those  who  have  not  been  in  the  North,  but  to  a  'sour-dough'  or 
old  timer,  it  has  a  world  of  meaning,  for  it  is  the  one  great 
natural  obstacle  against  which  he  has  fought  time  and  again. 

'  The  gold-bearing  sediment  forms  part  of  the  debris  de- 
posited in  the  former  bed  of  a  stream.  The  gravel  is  called 
'wash';  the  rock  on  which  it  lies  is  called  'bedrock';  and  when 
it  rises  to  the  edge  of  the  creek-bottom,  it  is  known  as  the 
'rim'  or  'rim-rock.'  The  richest  portion  of  the  deposit  is 
usually  at  the  base  of  the  gravel,  on  bedrock;  and  as  it  lies 
lengthwise  with  the  course  of  the  creek,  in  places  being  as  wide 
as  the  valley,  while  in  others  restricted  to  a  riband,  it  is  called 
the  'pay-streak.'  It  would  be  better  to  call  it  a  'channel.'  In 
Australia,  this  central  portion  of  the  gold-bearing  alluvium  is 
labeled  the  'gutter.'  The  particles  of  gold  are  called  'colors.'  if 
small ;  and  'nuggets,'  if  large.  To  ascertain  how  much  s'old  the 


208  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

'dirt'  carries,  the  miner  washes  ten  or  twenty  pounds  of  it  in  his 
'pan';  this  is  a  sheet-iron  dish,  nothing  less  than  a  frying-pan 
without  a  handle.  By  use  and  experience,  it  is  now  made  of  a 
shape  best  adapted  to  the  rough  process  of  concentration  per- 
formed by  the  prospector  when  he  gives  it  a  shaking  motion, 
aiding  the  water  in  the  removal  of  all  the  lighter  particles  of 
rock  and  stone  wherein  the  gold  lies  imbedded,  until  finally  a 
string  of  yellow  particles  remains  on  the  bottom  of  the  pan. 

The  next  device  is  the  'sluice-box,'  a  board  trough  into 
which  the  gravel  is  shoveled  while  a  stream  of  water  is  ad- 
mitted so  as  to  wash  away  everything  except  the  gold.  This 
separation  between  the  valuable  and  the  valueless  constituents 
is  facilitated  by  cleats  or  'riffles'  nailed  across  the  sluice-box 
to  arrest  the  gold  when  it  sinks  to  the  bottom.  A  sluice  cut  in 
the  bedrock  is  called  a  '  ground-sluice. '  Water  under  pres- 
sure is  used  to  move  the  gravel :  in  rudimentary  practice  this 
water  is  conveyed  in  a  canvas  hose  and  when  the  scale  of  opera- 
tions increases  the  same  service  is  performed  by  iron  or  steel 
pipe.  The  nozzle  becomes  a  'monitor'  and  the  operation  of 
driving  the  gravel  with  a  powerful  jet  is  hydraulic  mining  or 
'hydraulicking. ' 

The  following  table  of  alluvial  measures  will  be  useful  to 
those  who  are  interested  in  Alaskan  practice: 

1    pan    holds 2o  Ib.  of  gravel 

G  pans   1   cubic  foot 

15  pans     1  wheelbarrow 

10  wheelbarrows    1   cubic  yard 

i;>5  pans    1   cubic  yard 

4  wheelbarrows    1   bucket 

These  do  not  agree  exactly.  A  full  pan  will  hold  from  20 
to  25  11)..  and  it  requires  from  125  to  135  pans  to  make  a  cubic 
yard.  A  cubic  yard  is  usually  estimated  to  weigh  3000  Ib..  or 
1 l  -2  tons.  If  a  pan  holds  20  11).  and  150  pans  equal  a  yard,  then 
a  cubic  yard  weighs  3000  pounds.  A  loaded  wheelbarrow  will 
hold  one  tenth  of  a  cubic  yard:  this  is  the  ratio  recognized  at 
Fairbanks  and  at  Nome. 


CHAPTER  XX. 
DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINING  METHODS. 

Gravel  mining  is  a  simple  process  ;  the  simplicity  of  empirical 
deduction.  It  is  the  growth  of  experience  in  overcoming  nat- 
ural obstacles.  I  shall  endeavor  to  describe  methods  that  have 
enabled  man  to  extract  an  astonishing  amount  of  gold.  The 
creeks  at  Dawson  have  yielded  $125,000,000  in  ten  years,  the 
alluvial  flats  of  Fairbanks  have  given  the  world  not  less  than 
$32,000,000  in  five  years,  and  the  golden  beaches  of  Nome  have 
contributed  fully  $22,000,000  in  eight  years. 

This  gold  has  come  for  the  most  part  from  deposits  of 
gravel  lying  in  or  beneath  the  beds  of  existing  streams,  mean- 
dering within  the  limits  of  shallow  valleys.  Here  is  a  typical 
example :  A  small  valley  overlooked  by  rounded  hillslopes  is 
traversed  by  a  stream  the  present  bed  of  which  is  only  a  few 
yards  wide  as  compared  to  the  flat,  half  a  mile  wide,  over  which 
it  wanders.  Bare  ground,  in  the  form  of  gravel,  is  visible  only 
on  the  edge  and  in  the  bed  of  the  stream ;  the  remainder  of  the 
valley  is  covered  with  moss,  out  of  which  arise  clumps  of  spruce, 
some  a  foot  in  diameter.  On  the  hillsides  the  forest  grows 
scantier,  and  on  the  summits  the  ridges  are  silhouetted  in 
sweeping  lines  unbroken  by  any  trees.  A  few  specks  of  gold 
are  found  in  the  gravel,  and  there  are  rare  spots  where  the 
rim  shows  coarse  'colors.'  The  bedrock  is  probably  a  soft 
schist,  for  that  is  the  formation  exposed  by  landslips;  else- 
where it  is  covered  by  moss,  by  'muck.'  or  by  gravel.  The 
prospector  cannot  sink  a  pit  or  shaft  in  the  bed  of  the  stream 
because  the  water  will  drown  his  workings.  No  pumps  are 
available,  nor  is  it  feasible  to  divert  the  creek  by  means  of  a 
dam,  because  that  would  bank  the  water  on  another  man's 


210  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

claim ;  moreover,  the  gravel  is  so  porous  that  the  water  would 
penetrate  into  any  workings  sunk  in  the  bed  of  the  stream. 
Thereupon  the  prospector  turns  to  one  side  and  digs  into  the 
valley-bottom  at  a  safe  distance  from  the  present  stream-bed. 
He  finds  that  under  the  moss  the  ground  is  frozen  solid ;  it  is 
impossible  to  sink  a  shaft  with  a  pick,  and  expensive  to  do  so 
with  explosives.  Yet  he  reasons  that  the  indications  point  to 
the  existence  of  gold  on  the  bed  of  the  valley  to  one  side  of  the 
present  stream,  along  a  course  that  it  formerly  followed.  What 
is  he  to  do? 

Such  was  the  problem  confronting  the  pioneers  in  the 
Yukon  and  Alaska  ten  years  ago. 

Machinery  was  lacking.  The  pick  and  shovel  were  the  only 
tools  available.  Wood  was  handy.  What  more  natural  than 
to  overcome  ice  with  fire,  to  soften  the  frozen  ground  by  arti- 
ficial thawing?  This  was  the  pioneer's  method.  He  laid  his 
bundle  of  sticks  and  made  a  fire  that  melted  the  adjacent  ice. 
In  this  way  he  sank  a  small  shaft  to  bedrock.  The  work  of 
sinking  wras  done  in  winter,  when  surface-water  did  not  im- 
pede. After  the  wood  had  burned  so  as  to  soften  the  ground, 
he  broke  the  latter  with  his  pick  and  hoisted  it  to  the  surface 
in  a  bucket  with  a  windlass.  Then  he  piled  the  gravel  near  the 
shaft's  mouth  in  a  heap,  which  re-froze  during  the  winter  and 
thawed  naturally  in  the  spring.  As  it  thawed,  he  shoveled  it 
into  a  sluice-box  and  washed  it  by  the  help  of  any  water  avail- 
able. His  whole  equipment  consisted  of  a  pan,  pick,  shovel,  a 
bucket  made  out  of  a  whiskey-barrel  or  a  hide,  fire-wood,  a 
hemp  rope,  two  or  three  sluice-boxes  each  10  or  12  feet  long, 
find  muscle,  and  more  muscle,  and  persistence.  It  is  wonder- 
ful what  some  of  the  pioneers  accomplished.  Thus  Sam  Sam- 
son and  a  partner,  in  the  winter  of  1U01-02.  sank  a  shaft  115 
feet  on  the  Cyrus  Xoble  claim,  near  Nome.  The  shaft  was 
only  2  by  4  feet.  It  was  on  the  'tundra.'  There  was  no  forest 
to  yield  good  firewood,  but  Samson  found  scrub  willows  near- 
by and  he  burned  them.  He  would  fill  a  gunny-sack  with 
willow  twigs,  dry  them  in  the  oven  of  his  stove,  and  place  them 
in  the  bottom  of  the  shaft,  under  cover  of  a  wash-tub,  to  retain 
the  heal.  A  fire  in  the  mornintr  and  another  in  the  evening 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINING  METHODS. 


211 


sufficed  to  soften  the  frozen  gravel.  He  had  to  conserve  the 
air  in  his  shaft  as  best  he  could.  He  worked  in  his  undershirt, 
perspiring  while  the  air  at  the  surface  was  below  zero.  After 
sinking  80  feet  without  the  safeguard  of  timber,  he  lined  the 
shaft  to  the  surface  with  inch  boards.  This  was  an  exceptional 
case,  but  it  illustrates  that  grit  can  overcome  gravel,  even 
when  frozen. 

The  gold  is  found  concentrated  upon  the  bedrock.     This 
concentration  is  more  complete  in  Alaska  and  the  Yukon  than 


."-t  FROZEN    GRAVEL':-, 


IT. 


\\\\\mj^w\x^ 

y\\\ 

DRIFT-MINING    IN    FROZEN   GROUND 


in  other  mining  regions:  it  is  due  to  the  clean  character  of  the 
'wash.'  that  is,  there  is  so  little  clay  in  the  gravel  that  the  de- 
scent of  the  heavy  gold  has  not  been  hindered.  It  has  fallen 
to  the  rock-bottom  and  lies  there,  sometimes  so  thick  that  the 
mass  consists  of  more  gold  than  dirt.  In  most  cases  the  miner 
finds  his  'pay'  confined  to  the  stuff  that  lies  for  a  couple  of 
feet  above  bedrock,  and  within  the  bedrock  itself;  for  the  gold 
has  sunk  into  the  crevices  of  the  rock,  penetrating  sometimes 
three  feet,  if  the  schist  be  blocky  and  shattered.  Therefore  the 
operation  of  mining  includes  the  removal  of  the  bottom  layer 


212  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

of  sediment  on  the  creek-bed  and  the  top  of  the  rock-bottom. 
From  2  to  6  feet  of  material  is  considered  rich  enough  to  be 
treated  as  'pay'  and  is  washed  in  the  sluice-boxes. 

While  I  speak  of  the  rock-bottom,  it  must  be  explained  that 
the  bedrock  is  usually  soft.  It  has  undergone  disintegration ; 
it  has  been  shattered  by  alternations  of  frost  and  thaw,  in  a 
by-gone  time ;  it  has  been  penetrated  by  water  and  some  of  its 
constituent  minerals  have  been  so  dissolved  as  to  leave  it  no 
longer  hard  and  resisting,  but  docile  as  clay.  The  soft,  almost 
'  mush}', '  bedrock  of  the  North  is  a  great  aid  to  the  miner.  He 
does  not  need  explosives. 

When  the  shaft  reaches  bedrock,  it  is  an  exciting  moment. 
The  miner  scans  the  ground  to  find  specks  of  gold;  if  the  gravel 
be  rich,  he  can  see  the  gold  readily.  Then  he  hoists  some  of 
the  soft  bedrock  and  the  fine  sediment  lying  on  its  surface.  By 
the  use  of  a  pan  he  washes  this  material  and  ascertains  how 
rich  it  is.  Often  he  sees  a  glittering  string  of  yellow  particles 
in  his  pan;  sometimes  a  piece  big  enough  to  be  called  a  'nug- 
get'; sometimes — nothing,  only  a  little  black  sand.  As  an 
illustration  of  the  extraordinary  richness  of  some  of  these  de- 
posits, I  cite  the  following:  In  August  1899  on  No.  2  Above 
Discovery  on  Bonanza,  adjoining  the  Dick  Lowe  fraction, 
George  T.  Coffey  took  two  shovelfuls,  that  is,  enough  to  fill 
a  pan.  and  from  it  he  washed  63  ounces  of  gold.  This  in- 
cluded three  pieces  worth  over  $100  each.  It  was  possible  to 
see  the  gold  in  the  gravel  when  standing  20  feet  away.  Among 
those  present  on  that  occasion  was  Angelo  Heilprin. 

Ordinarily.  10  cents  worth  of  gold,  or  2Vi»  grains,  per  pan, 
indicating  a  yield  of  $13.50  per  cubic  yard,  say,  one  yard  deep, 
was  rich  enough  to  yield  a  handsome  profit  to  a  man  who  sank 
a  shaft  40  feet  to  bedrock. 

If  the  shaft  does  not  'bottom'  in  pay,  the  prospector  lie- 
gins  1o  explore  laterally  by  digging  a  gallery,  or  'drift,'  fol- 
lowing Ihe  surface  of  the  bedrock.  The  shaft  may  be  off  the 
line  of  the  maximum  concentration — it  has  been  sunk  to  the 
rim  of  the  channel  rather  than  the  gutter — and  a  short  drift 
will  enable  the  miner  to  find  better  stuff.  Whether  he  explore 
for  richer  pay  or  open  out  into  a  beautiful  layer  of  golden 


214  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

sediment,  he  extends  a  drift  from  the  bottom  of  his  shaft  and 
removes  the  ground  by  thawing  with  fire,  as  he  did  when  sink- 
ing. The  removal  of  gravel  by  hand-labor  in  this  manner  is 
called  'drifting,'  as  against  methods  in  which  water  is  the  prime 
agent. 

The  thaw  affects  only  a  small  patch  of  ground ;  it  does  not 
endanger  the  worker,  who  burrows  patiently  under  a  hard  roof 
of  frozen  gravel.  Bit  by  bit  all  the  gold-bearing  dirt  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  claim  is  excavated  and  raised  to  the  sur- 
face, to  be  washed  in  the  sluice-boxes  whenever  water  is  avail- 
able. This  method  of  working  frozen  ground  by  thawing  with 
wood  fires  was  originated  in  the  Forty-Mile  and  Circle  districts 
before  the  discovery  of  the  Klondike.  Even  where  timber  is 
cheap,  it  is  more  economical  to  exploit  frozen  ground  in  this 
way  than  to  operate  in  thawed  gravel. 

In  the  days  before  Columbus  discovered  America  the  ancient 
miners  of  central  Europe  employed  the  method  known  as  'fire- 
setting.  '  A  big  wood  fire  was  built  close  to  the  face  of  a  level, 
and  when  the  rock  had  become  thoroughly  heated  it  was  cus- 
tomary to  throw  water  on  the  hot  surface,  causing  it  to  crack. 
When  thus  fractured,  the  ore  was  extracted  by  the  further  aid 
of  hammers  and  wedges.  According  to  Henry  Louis,  this 
method  was  in  use  in  the  Sala  mines,  in  Sweden,  as  late  as  1876. 
and  in  the  Kongsberg  mines,  in  Norway,  it  was  employed  up 
to  1884,  when  improvements  in  blasting  caused  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  ancient  practice.  I  have  seen  many  a  face  of  an  old 
level  in  the  Alps,  on  the  border  of  France  and  Italy,  that  was 
beautifully  concave  by  reason  of  the  application  of  this  method. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  the  copper  region  of  Michigan  the  coun- 
try is  occasionally  covered  with  a  blanket  of  sand,  wash,  or 
gravel,  which  must  be  penetrated  before  the  hard  copper-bear- 
ing rock  is  reached.  Sometimes  the  shaft  breaks  into  a  quick- 
sand, making  further  sinking  impossible  in  the  ordinary  way. 
Then  artificial  free/ing  is  employed  ;  the  wet  sand  is  fro/en  solid 
and  kept  in  this  condition  long  enough  to  allow  the  miners  to 
make  the  necessary  excavation  and  timber  it  securely.  Thus 
man  uses  fire  and  frost,  air  and  steam,  wood  and  iron,  in  his 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINING  METHODS. 


215 


subterranean  operations,  overcoming  Nature  in  one  place  by 
the  use  of  the  very  force  she  uses  to  resist  him  elsewhere. 

Wood  fires  make  smoke.  The  gases  liberated  are  injurious 
to  health.  In  the  North,  men  soon  learned  to  keep  away  from 
the  shaft  or  drift  until  natural  ventilation  had  purified  the  air. 
At  best  they  had  to  work  in  a  warm  moist  atmosphere,  for  they 
had  to  excavate  the  rock  softened  by  thawing  before  it  could 
freeze  again.  At  the  surface  the  air  might  be  20°  below  zero; 
in  the  mine  the  conditions  simulated  a  Russian  bath. 

After  the  pioneers  in  the  North  had  used  wood  fires  for 
thawing  during  one  winter  season  or  more,  a  clever  operator 
hit  upon  the  idea  of  employing  steam  for  the  same  purpose. 
Then  the  'steam-point'  was  introduced.  It  happened  thus:  In 


AB     PAY-GRAVEL          C    .sre«,M-PoiNT         D    TRACK 

SECTION   OF   A   DRIFT    MINE. 

1898  C.  J.  Berry  discovered  that  steam  could  be  directed  to  thaw 
frozen  earth.  The  steam  escaping  from  the  exhaust  of  his  en- 
gine had  accidentally  thawed  a  hole  in  the  solid  'muck.'  Berry 
noticed  this  and  picked  up  the  exhaust  pipe,  which  wras  a  rub- 
ber hose.  On  applying  it  to  the  frozen  ground  he  found  that 
it  would  thaw  the  muck  so  as  to  penetrate  for  the  full  length 
of  the  hose  within  a  few  minutes.  This  excited  the  men  who 
happened  to  be  watching  the  experiment.  All  of  them  at  once 
began  to  devise  a  scheme  for  doing  this  work  effectively.  A  rifle 
barrel  was  chosen,  then  a  small  hole  was  bored  into  one  side 
so  as  to  admit  the  steam.  Thus  the  'steam-point'  was  invented. 
In  its  rudimentary  form  the  steam-point  was  a  short  length- 
of  iron  pipe,  pointed  at  one  end.  and  attached  to  a  length  of 


216 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


r«  '•        Z. 


rubber  hose,  through  which  steam  traveled  from  a  small  boiler 
at  the  surface.  The  pointed  end  of  the  five  or  six  feet  of  iron 
pipe  was  inserted  into  the  frozen  gravel  and  driven  forward 
gently  by  taps  from  a  hammer,  as  the  ground  was  softened  by 
the  steam  issuing  from  the  orifice  at  the  lowrer  end.  As  finally 
developed,  the  steam-point  became  a  specialized  tool  of  great 
„  _  ,,  .,  efficiency.  A  solid  head  was  added 

to  the  end  that  is  hammered  and  a 
protecting  ring  was  welded  to  the 
forward  end ;  the  shank  itself  was 
made  of  pipe  of  the  strongest  kind, 
and  armored  rubber  tubing  replaced 
the  ordinary  hose.  The  length  of  the 
'steam-point'  ranges  from  6  to  16 
feet,  the  usual  size  being  8  feet.  This 
is  driven  home  so  as  to  make  a  hole 
about  6  feet  deep.  The  accompany- 
ing sketch  will  illustrate  the  details 
of  construction.  The  hole  in  the  steel 
head  allows  for  the  insertion  of  a  bar, 
wherewith  the  point  is  turned  so  as 
to  aid  advance.  As  the  operator  hits 
the  head  with  a  hammer,  he  turns 
the  point  by  means  of  a  bar  held  in 
the  other  hand. 

As  used  two  or  three  years  ago,  the 
cost  of  thawing  was  25  to  30  cents 
per  cubic  yard.  With  longer  points, 
longer  'sweating,'  cheaper  fuel,  bet- 
ter system,  the  cost  has  been  reduced 
one  half.  In  a  20-ft.  deposit,  using 
12  to  13-ft.  points,  it  is  possible  to 
thaw  3',-j  to  f>  cubic  feet  per  point  at  each  setting. 

The  efficiency  of  a  point  will  vary  according  to  the  pressure 
of  steam,  the  length  of  the  tool  itself,  the  distance  between  the 
points,  the  time  allowed  for  'sweating.'  and  the  amount  of 
moisture  in  the  ground.  An  effort  is  made  to  fix  the  intervals 
between  points  so  that  their  sphere  of  influence  do  not  overlap. 


tf 


A  STEAM  -POINT. 


218  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

By  allowing  the  steam  sufficient  time  to  do  its  work,  the  area 
affected  is  increased.  This  is  the  'sweating'  stage.  As  the 
amount  of  humidity,  in  the  form  of  ice,  increases,  more  steam  is 
required  to  overcome  the  latent  cold. 

When  the  steam-point  was  introduced,  the  extraction  of 
gravel  from  the  drift-mines  was  continued  in  summer,  as  well 
as  winter,  and  the  production  of  gold  proceeded  concurrently, 
as  long  as  the  weather  at  the  surface  permitted.  The  dump 
accumulated  in  winter  would  freeze  before  spring,  necessitat- 
ing the  employment  of  steam-points  before  it  could  be  moved. 
Moreover,  the  boiler  erected  for  the  purpose  of  thawing  was 
also  used  for  hoisting.  Larger  buckets  and  a  bigger  scale  of 
operation  became  possible. 

Thus,  the  frozen  condition  of  the  placers  in  Alaska  and  the 
Yukon,  at  first  an  insurmountable  obstacle,  proved,  in  the  end, 
an  aid  to  mining.  To  sink  a  shaft  in  the  creek  deposits  of  a 
warm  climate  means  a  persistent  contest  with  water,  for  which 
pumps  are  necessary  or  a  costly  drainage  system.  The  loose 
ground  requires  careful  timbering.  Some  of  the  best  portions 
of  the  channel  may  be  unworkable  because  of  an  excessive  in- 
flux of  wrater.  All  this  would  have  checkmated  the  diggers  of 
the  North  in  the  early  days  of  discovery.  Pumps  wrere  1500  to 
2000  miles  away,  heavy  timbers  were  scarcely  to  be  obtained  in 
most  localities,  a  fight  with  water  would  have  discouraged  men 
unused  to  mining,  as  were  most  of  those  that  rushed  to  Daw- 
son,  Fairbanks,  and  Nome. 

The  'frost,'  indeed,  was  the  miner's  friend.  It  enabled  him 
to  sink  a  shaft  even  in  the  bed  of  the  creek ;  it  permitted  him  to 
dispense  with  timbering;  it  allowed  him  to  burrow  with  safety 
and  to  follow  the  layer  of  golden  gravel  with  impunity  under 
the  ice-bound  surface.  Moreover,  it  obviated  work  on  a  large 
scale.  One  man  could,  and  sometimes  did,  work  alone,  descend- 
ing the  shaft,  filling  the  bucket,  ascending  to  the  surface,  hoist- 
ing the  load,  and  so  forth.  No  machinery  was  needed  save  the 
simplest  tools:  no  organization  was  required,  beyond  a  willing 
partner:  no  capital,  save  muscle. 

By  the  method  of  'drifting'  only  the  bottom  layer  of  the 
gravel  deposit  was  mined :  any  gold  in  the  overburden  re- 


220  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

mained  untouched.  As  all  the  gold  is  not  concentrated  on  the 
bedrock,  or  in  the  five  or  six  feet  immediately  overlying,  this 
method  entailed  waste.  It  was  not  complete.  Also  there  was 
danger  of  a  collapse  of  the  ground  when  warm  air  entered  the 
mine  in  summer  or  by  penetration  of  surface  water  into  the 
workings.  Thereupon  the  open-cut  method  was  introduced. 
By  this  system  the  deposit  was  worked  from  the  surface  down- 
ward, the  ground  being  removed  in  successive  slices  by  'scrap- 
ers' pulled  by  horses  or  by  a  steam-engine.  The  portion  rich 
enough  was  taken  in  wheelbarrows  or  in  a  self-dumping  bucket 
to  the  sluice-boxes,  where  the  gold  was  extracted.  Thus  an- 
other method  became  successfully  established. 

Even  this  method  was  not  applicable  everywhere.  In  wet 
ground,  in  gravel  partly  thawed,  and  in  the  channels  of  live 
streams,  neither  'drifting'  nor  'open-cut'  practice  served  the 
miner's  purpose.  He  had  to  overcome  a  new  difficulty.  And 
he  did  it  with  the  dredge,  which  had  been  already  applied  suc- 
cessfully in  New  Zealand  and  California. 

A  dredge  consists  of  a  bucket-elevator  placed  upon  a  barge. 
The  barge  is  constructed  at  the  bottom  of  a  pit  excavated,  by 
the  use  of  scrapers  and  horses,  to  a  depth  sufficiently  below  the 
expected  water-level  to  ensure  flotation  and  afford  room  for 
movement.  Then  the  machinery  is  placed  in  position  on  the 
barge.  As  water  is  admitted,  the  dredge  floats,  and  when  it 
starts  to  work  it  digs  its  own  way,  filling  the  pit  behind  as  it 
advances  in  the  course  of  digging.  The  digging  is  effected  by 
a  chain  of  steel  buckets,  which  excavate  the  gravel  in  front  and 
deliver  it  to  the  washing  apparatus  at  the  rear  of  the  scow  or 
pontoon.  After  the  gravel  has  been  washed,  it  is  discharged 
by  an  inclined  traveling  belt,  Avhich  throws  it  sufficiently  far 
behind  the  dredge  as  not  to  impede  flotation  or  to  permit  of 
the  same  material  being  raised  again  by  the  buckets.  As  the 
ground  is  mined,  the  dredge  is  advanced  forward  and  side- 
ways by  means  of  winches  and  ropes  moored  to  posts  on  shore. 
The  machinery  is  actuated  by  steam  from  boilers  on  the  scow 
itself  or  by  electric  motors  obtaining  their  energy  from  a 
plant  at  a  distance.  The  hull  is  from  :5f>  to  40  feet  wide,  90 
to  125  feet  long,  and  8  to  10  feet  deep.  The  total  weight  is 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINING  METHODS. 


221 


700  to  800  tons.  The  buckets  have  a  capacity  varying  on 
different  dredges ;  5  cubic  feet  is  now  deemed  small ;  7  cubic 
feet  is  common ;  13  cubic  feet  is  the  maximum,  as  yet.  If  the 
buckets  are  of  7-foot  capacity  and  they  discharge  at  the  rate 
of  23  per  minute,  the  dredge  when  digging  to  a  depth  of 
14  to  16  feet  will  handle  from  90,000  to  115,000  cubic  yards 
per  month,  allowing  for  unavoidable  stoppages  and  repairs. 
The  lips  of  the  bucket  are  reinforced  with  manganese  steel,  to 
withstand  the  wear  and  tear.  As  they  discharge  at  the  upper 
end  of  the  'bucket-ladder,'  the  gravel  falls  either  into  a  revolv- 


DREDGE   OX   BOXAXZA    CREEK. 

ing  screen  or  upon  a  shaking  table,  with  jets  of  water  playing 
upon  it  so  as  to  detach  any  clay  and  to  facilitate  the  separa- 
tion of  the  gold,  which  falls  (through  perforations  in  the  screen 
or  the  table)  on  a  series  of  sluices,  provided  with  gold-saving 
devices,  such  as  riffles,  matting,  and  mercury. 

Apart  from  economic  conditions,  which  vary  all  over  the 
world,  the  distinctive  feature  of  dredging  practice  on  the  Yukon 
is  the  necessity  for  overcoming  the  frozen  condition  of  the 
ground.  This  is  a  geologic  frost  as  distinguished  from  the 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

seasonal  frost ;  the  first  is  the  sequel  of  a  Glacial  period,  that  is, 
a  time  when  the  summer  thaw  was  unable  to  overtake  the  win- 
ter frost;  the  second  is  due  merely  to  winter  cold.  The  seasonal 
frost,  as  measured  on  ground  that  has  been  thawed  in  summer, 
reaches  down  3  to  5  feet,  but  the  geologic  frost  extends  to  a 
depth  of  230  feet,  if  not  more,  wherever  the  ground  is  wet.  as 
in  the  valley-bottoms.  On  the  other  hand,  the  warmth  of  the 
short  summer,  lasting  4  to  4Vii  months,  will  thaw  the  ground 
to  a  depth  of  4  to  7  feet,  according  to  local  conditions,  the 
chief  of  which  is  the  nature  of  the  surface-covering.  In  two 
seasons  the  frost  in  a  gravel  deposit  may  be  conquered  by  the 
seasonal  thaw  to  a  depth  of  10  to  22  feet.  Even  in  the  coldest 
winter,  such  as  that  of  1905,  when  the  thermometer  registered 
a  minimum  temperatude  of  -71°  F.,  the  frost  did  not  overtake 
the  summer  thaw — on  ground  that  had  been  'stripped' — by 
three  feet. 

The  Northland  is  covered  by  a  blanket  of  moss  and  loam 
due  to  the  decay  of  vegetation.  This  overburden  is  called 
'muck'  by  the  miners  because  when  it  melts  it  runs  like  thin 
mud.  for  it  is  composed  of  25  to  40%  organic  matter  and  60 
to  75%  ice.  AVhen  either  the  summer  sun  or  artificial  heat 
strikes  this  black  blanket,  it  disintegrates  and  is  readily  floated 
on  the  running  stream.  Being  a  mixture  of  organic  matter  and 
ice.  it  makes  a  perfect  insulator  against  heat,  and  protects  the 
underlying  frozen  ground  from  the  warm  air  of  summer.  The 
thickness  of  this  frozen  muck  varies  from  a  few  inches  to  40 
feet,  the  maximum  being  in  gullies  where  it  has  accumulated 
by  sliding  from  adjoining  hillsides.  Two  feet  is  an  average 
thickness.  In  summer,  it  melts:  in  winter,  it  free/.es  solid. 

It  is  obvious  that  before  the  seasonal  thaw  can  become  effec- 
tive, the  blanket  of  moss  must  be  removed.  This  is  done 
naturally  by  freshets  and  by  meandering  streams;  it  has  been 
done  systematically  both  by  ground-sluicing  and  also,  much 
more  rapidly,  by  hydraulicking.  Where  time  is  not  an  im- 
mediate factor  and  where  bedrock  is  not  more  than  15  feet  deep. 
a  gravel  deposit  can  be  thawed  to  bedrock  in  two  seasons  by 
simply  removing  the  cover  of  moss  and  loam  so  that  the  summer 
heat  may  get  an  opportunity  to  penetrate.  Hut.  on  the  other 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINING  METHODS.  223 

hand,  where  dredging  operations  cannot  wait  for  such  a  slow 
method,  or  bedrock  is  deeper  than  15  feet,  or  where  old  work- 
ings exist,  it  becomes  necessary  both  to  accelerate  and  to  per- 
fect the  thawing  process  by  the  aid  of  artificial  methods.  This 
is  done  by  the  application  of  steam. 

By  introducing  steam  into  the  fro/en  ground,  the  ice  is 
melted;  the  more  water  (that  is,  ice)  there  is  in  the  gravel,  the 
more  steam  will  be  consumed  in  converting  water  from  its  solid 
to  its  liquid  state.  Ice  is  a  non-conductor;  rock  is  relatively  a 
good  conductor ;  therefore,  the  less  water  the  gravel  contains, 
the  more  easily  is  it  thawed.  The  stones  retain  the  heat 
imparted  to  them  so  as  to  radiate  it  slowly  into  the  surrounding 
mass.  The  method  of  thawing  by  steam  was  exemplified  on 
claim  90  Below  Discovery  on  Bonanza  creek,  just  above  the 
No.  6  dredge  of  the  Yukon  Gold  Co.  The  plant  consists  of 
three  boilers,  fired  with  wood  at  $8  per  cord  delivered,  the 
steam-gauge  registering  a  pressure  of  150  pounds.  The  main 
pipe-line  is  31,/>  inches  in  diameter,  and  is  carried  within  boxes 
packed  with  sawdust  as  an  insulator.  All  the  pipes  are  wrapped 
with  'asbestos'  covering.  The  branch  pipes  approaching  the 
ground  to  be  thawed  (at  300  to  400  feet  from  the  boiler-plant) 
are  1V>  inches,  also  insulated  and  boxed.  At  intervals  of  8 
feet,  openings  in  the  pipe  connect  through  nipples  with  short 
lengths  of  hose.  This  hose  is  %  inch  diameter,  and  17  feet 
long;  it  must  be  long  enough  to  reach  the  heads  of  the  'steam- 
points'  when  they  are  being  swung  into  position,  and  to  allow 
latitude  in  twisting  the  'points'.  The  'point'  is  a  steel  pipe  Vii 
to  %  inch,  made  in  lengths  of  14  to  20  feet,  one  end  of  which 
is  hammered  while  the  other  end  is  being  driven  into  the 
ground.  The  point  itself,  or  advancing  end,  has  an  orifice  •"'/,,. 
inch,  and  through  this  the  steam  enters  the  ground.  By  the 
time  the  steam  reaches  the  place  where  it  escapes  into  the 
gravel  the  pressure  has  sunk  to  25  pounds  per  square  inch. 

In  starting  a  point  it  is  customary  to  take  a  IV-i-inch  steel 
bar  and  drive  it  down  with  an  8-pound  sledge-hammer  until 
frozen  ground  is  struck:  then  the  steam-point  itself  is  intro- 
duced, the  bar  having  been  withdrawn.  The  top  or  head  of 
the  point  is  pounded  by  one  man  with  a  4-pound  hammer,  and 


224  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

at  the  same  time  a  twist  is  imparted  by  a  wrench  held  by 
another  man.  This  is  done  at  intervals  as  the  ground  is  softened 
by  thawing,  the  man  in  charge  proceeding  from  one  'point'  to 
another,  in  rotation.  The  rate  of  thaw  is  about  two  feet  per 
hour.  If  the  point  refuses  to  sink,  it  is  allowed  to  rest  for  a 
while,  and  then  if  no  progress  can  be  made  in  the  usual  way,  it 
is  inferred  that  an  obstruction,  such  as  a  boulder,  exists.  The 
steam-pipe  is  pulled  out  of  the  hole  with  the  aid  of  a  lifting- 
jack  and  a  solid  steel  bar  is  introduced ;  this  is  then  hammered 
with  a  sledge  so  as  to  penetrate  the  obstruction  or  push  it  aside. 
If  the  incompetence  of  the  steam-point  is  due  to  the  clogging 
of  the  orifice  through  which  the  steam  is  emitted,  this  is  fol- 
lowed by  condensation  at  the  head,  as  indicated  by  chilling  of 
the  pipe,  and  also  by  listening  for  the  flow  of  steam  through 
the  hose.  I  noted  that  frozen  ground  was  struck  in  most 
cases  at  six  feet,  this  being  the  depth  to  which  the  seasonal 
thaw  had  progressed  after  the  moss  had  been  removed. 

In  this  manner  the  ground  is  softened  and  made  ready  for 
dredging.  The  thawed  ground  will  remain  warm  for  a  month, 
but  it  is  not  advisable  to  apply  steam-points  too  far  ahead  of 
the  dredge,  lest  the  material  should  freeze  again  when  the 
weather  becomes  wintry,  nor  to  dig  into  the  ground  until  the 
artificial  heat  has  been  fully  expended. 

Space  does  not  permit,  nor  the  occasion  warrant,  a  detailed 
description  of  the  process  of  dredging.  Let  me  take  you  aboard 
the  No.  (i  dredge  of  the  Yukon  Gold  Co.  for  a  few  minutes.  It 
is  doing  well  ;  crunching,  groaning,  and  squeaking  in  the  throes 
of  laborious  exertion,  the  machinery  is  digging  into  the  gravel 
with  relentless  power  and  raising  the  gold-bearing  dirt  into 
Ihe  big  revolving  screen,  where  the  pebbles  make  a  great  roar 
as  they  are  carried  a  quarter  turn  before  being  ejected  upon 
Ihe  rubber  belt  of  the  conveyor.  This  carries  the  boulders, 
pebbles,  and  roots  to  the  pile  of  reject  in  the  rear.  You  can 
climb  to  the  extreme  end  of  the  'stacker'  or  conveyor  and 
watch  Ihe  reject  issuing  from  the  interior  of  the  dredge  in  a 
steady  stream.  Then  go  to  the  winch-room  and  note  how  a 
single  man  controls  the  huge  mechanism  by  means  of  a  i'ew 
levers;  there  the  vibration  and  straining  of  the  dredge  have  a 


226 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


meaning,  expressing  the  energy  expended  in  digging  the  gravel 
of  the  creek  and  the  power  consumed  in  moving  the  gold-bear- 
ing material  through  various  stages  of  treatment.  The  observer 
will  be  impressed  at  first  with  the  tremendous  strain  incident 
to  the  operation,  and  then  he  will  begin  to  share  the  confidence 
of  the  dredge-master  who  knows  that  his  machine  was  designed 
to  overcome  all  and  any  of  the  obstacles  presented  from  moment 
to  moment  and  from  day  to  day. 

We  saw  the  clean-up,  no  less  than  $10,500  being  collected  as 
the  result  of  44  hours  work,  or  at  the  rate  of  85  cents  per  cubic 
yard,  at  a  cost  of  25  cents  per  yard.  This  was  better  than  the 
average,  but  it  indicated  a  profitable  type  of  mining. 


A    HOMK    IN   TIIK    NORTH. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
ON  BONANZA  CREEK. 

On  June  21  at  Dawson,  which  is  in  latitude  64°  north,  the 
sun  sets  at  11  p.m.  and  rises  at  1  a.m.  As  seen  from  a  height 
(such  as  the  Moosehide  Dome)  the  sun  disappears  below  the 
horizon,  but  the  rays  do  not  become  extinguished,  so  that  direct 
sunlight  is  appreciable  even  at  midnight.  At  the  close  of  De- 
cember the  sunshine  lasts  only  from  10 : 30  in  the  morning  to 
2 : 30  in  the  afternoon  and  the  light  is  feebly  actinic.  Artificial 
illumination  is  used  during  20  hours,  yet,  owing  to  reflection 
from  the  snow,  no  inky  darkness  supervenes,  the  black  nights 
being  those  that  precede  the  winter  before  the  snow  has  cov- 
ered the  ground.  During  July  it  was  never  dark  enough  at 
any  time  to  reveal  the  stars,  but  in  the  first  week  of  August  I 
saw  them  again  at  Fort  Gibbon,  like  the  face  of  a  friend.  To 
emphasize  the  quality  of  the  light  up  to  a  late  hour  in  mid- 
summer, I  can  state  that  on  July  19  I  heard  a  surveyor  com- 
plain that  at  11 : 30  on  the  previous  night  he  had  been  unable 
to  see  the  cross-hairs  in  his  telescope — half  an  hour  before  mid- 
night !  The  long  day  enables  work  to  proceed  throughout  the 
24  hours  and  it  turns  the  short  season  of  4  to  41/ii  months  into 
a  period  of  intense  activity.  The  air  and  the  light  both  favor 
continued  exertion ;  men  lose  the  habit  of  sleep,  and,  like 
bears,  postpone  arrears  of  slumber  until  the  hibernating  season. 
To  those  unaccustomed  to  these  conditions,  the  difficulty  of  ex- 
cluding the  brilliant  daylight  from  a  bedroom,  bunk,  or  tent 
at  10  or  11  o'clock  at  night  prevents  restful  sleep.  Dawson  is 
quiet  until  10  or  11  in  the  morning;  the  best  time  for  business 
engagements  is  after  the  conventional  dinner-hour,  in  the  even- 
ing. Those  who  have  lived  in  the  North  for  many  years  tell  me, 


228  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

as  one  might  expect,  that  the  habitual  disregard  of  regular 
hours  for  sleep  affects  the  nerves;  but  to  the  visitor,  it  is  dif- 
ferent ;  to  be  wide  awake,  mentally  and  physically,  to  feel  the 
exhilaration  of  an  air  as  of  the  morning  of  Time,  and  to  receive 
the  stimulus  of  an  atmosphere  charged  with  ozone  is  to  realize 
the  difference  between  man  and  a  vegetable. 

The  fact  that  Dawson  is  no  longer  on  the  ragged  edge  of 
civilization  was  emphasized  by  the  sight  of  two  automobiles. 
One  of  them  belonged  to  0.  B.  Perry,  the  consulting  engineer 
of  the  Yukon  Gold  Company.  With  him  I  made  several  runs 
up  the  creeks  over  the  corduroy  roads.  Never  seemed  the 
wilderness  so  vanquished  as*  wrhen  we  careered  rapidly  over 
ground  impassable  a  few  years  ago  to  vehicular  traffic  of  any 
kind.  The  machine  was  a  Peerless  three-cylinder  roadster, 
specially  designed  in  body  and  equipment  for  local  conditions. 
It  seated  four  persons.  The  body  was  made  narrow,  and  stiff- 
ened by  being  built  entirely  of  oak  and  aluminum.  Gasoline 
sells  for  90  cents  per  gallon,  while  hay  costs  $91  per  ton,  so 
that  the  motor  consumes  less  money  per  mile  than  the  horse. 
Time  is  worth  more  than  either;  to  the  engineer  directing 
work  in  widely  separated  localities  some  mode  of  swift  trans- 
port is  essential,  and  the  most  rapid  is  the  most  economical. 

Under  the  guidance  of  George  T.  Coffey,  I  visited  the  work- 
ings of  the  mines  situated  on  the  bench  or  terrace  of  gravel 
called  the  White  Channel,  which  is  195  feet  above  the  surface 
of  Bonanza  creek.  Into  these  hillslopes  the  gold-seekers  dug, 
making  a  warren  of  activity  during  1898  and  1899.  Men, 
singly  and  in  partnership,  drove  tunnels  into  the  gravel  and 
extracted  the  gold-bearing  portion  by  thawing  with  wood-fires 
and  steam-points;  then,  using  pick  and  shovel,  they  brought  the 
'dirt'  1o  daylight  in  wheelbarrows  that  were  discharged  near 
the  sluice-boxes.  Feverish  was  their  haste,  for  over  many  of 
them  linng,  like  ;i  sword  of  Damocles,  the  fear  of  insecurity  of 
tillc;  sonic  desired  to  clcan-up  in  a  hurry  and  go  home,  others 
wore  possessed  with  the  gluttony  of  work,  or  were  spurred  by 
ji  greed  Ihat  knew  no  limit. 

Hut  when  I  saw  Cheochako  hill  on  a  July  evening  in  1908, 
all  was  peaceful.  No  one  was  at  work.  Before  me  stretched  an 


230  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

unassertive  topography:  rounded  hills  and  gently  sloping  val- 
leys, devoid  of  rocky  outcrops,  green  with  rank  grass  and  berry 
bushes,  the  purple  patches  of  wild  flower  merging  into  the  blue 
of  the  far  horizon.  A  straight  line  of  weather-beaten  flume,  the 
big  scar  of  a  hydraulic  mine,  a  few  drab  dumps  in  the  gully, 
one  or  two  neglected  cabins,  the  winding  road — only  these  sug- 
gested the  irruption  of  man  into  the  peaceful  wild. 

The  "purple  patches  of  wild  flower"  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph refer  to  the  pink  fireweed  or  angustifolium,  which  grows 
wherever  bush-fires  have  passed.  This  'fireweed'  is  the  char- 
acteristic flower  of  the  Far  North  and  makes  brilliant  splashes 
of  color  in  the  monotonous  dark  green  of  Arctic  verdure.  Yet, 
like  the  'barrens'  of  the  Labrador  and  the  moors  of  Nova 
Scotia,  the  Alaskan  wilderness  is  rich  in  bushes  that  yield 
edible  berries.  Raspberries  and  blueberries  are  plentiful,  also 
red  currant,  strawberries,  and  salmon-berry  (ntbus  spectabilis). 
But  labor  is  so  costly  that  each  one  must  pick  his  own  dessert. 
Canned  raspberries  will  be  supplied  at  road-houses  and  in 
camps  when  the  neighboring  hillsides  are  burdened  with  a  bet- 
ter fruit,  but  it  is  cheaper  to  serve  the  canned  variety  that  has 
been  transported  2000  miles  than  to  pay  a  boy  to  gather  the 
berries.  Similar  improvidence  is  suggested  by  the  fact  that 
on  the  steamboats  they  serve  canned  salmon  within  hearing  of 
the  splash  made  by  magnificent  fish  of  the  same  variety  in  the 
river  alongside. 

In  Skookum  gulch,  where  the  gravel  had  been  removed  and 
the  bedrock  exposed,  we  saw  tusks  of  the  mastodon,  12  to  15 
I'eet  long,  lying  white  and  bare;  also  horns  of  the  buffalo  and 
musk  ox.  washed  from  under  the  tundra  in  the  intermediate 
transverse  gullies.  On  enquiry,  it  was  ascertained  that  in  the 
gold-bearing  gravel  the  miners  found  the  tusks  of  the  mam- 
moth, as  well  as  the  skulls  and  jawbones  of  the  mastodon  and 
the  musk  ox.  In  the  White  Channel  no  such  remains  have  been 
discovered,  suggesting  that  the  bench  deposit  is  of  Pliocene 
age,  or  older  than  the  creek  gravel  enclosing  the  mammalian 
relics.  The  bones  are  frequently  seen  scattered  on  the  bedrock 
of  abandoned  mining  claims;  teeth  of  the  mammoth  weighing 
20  pounds  apiece  were  on  exhibition  in  Dawson,  as  well  as 


PARTNERS. 


232  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

tusks  S1/^  to  9V-2  feet  long  and  6  inches  in  diameter.  It  is  re- 
lated that  on  Hunker  creek  when  thawing  the  gravel  the  steam 
acting  on  this  pre-historic  cemetery  caused  an  awful  stench. 

Stories  of  the  mammoth,  and  mammoth  stories,  abound  in 
Alaska.  At  least  three  authenticated  cases  are  recorded  of  the 
finding  of  portions  of  the  hair  and  the  hide,  with  the  bones,  of 
the  big  beast,  but  no  whole  body  has  been  found.  The  hope  of 
such  a  find  is  based  on  the  fact  that  a  mammoth  was  found 
encased  in  the  ice  of  the  morass  bordering  the  Lena  river  in 
Siberia  and  the  carcass  was  extricated,  skinned,  and  stuffed ; 
it  is  now  an  exhibit  in  the  Museum  of  Natural  History  at  St. 
Petersburg  and  constitutes  one  of  the  great  curiosities  of  the 
world.  The  mammoth  flourished  25,000  years  ago,  and  the 
body  found  had  been  in  cold  storage  for  centuries.  The  interior 
of  Alaska  was  not  covered  by  the  great  ice  sheet  of  the  Glacial 
period,  the  small  precipitation  preventing,  and  thus  failed  to 
provide  means  for  preserving  the  remains  of  a  time  when  man 
was  beginning  to  assert  himself  in  the  scheme  of  creation. 

Returning  to  Cheechako  hill,  and  examining  the  foreground 
of  the  view,  I  saw  traces  of  the  frenzied  men  who  dug  eagerly 
for  gold  and  gophered  the  hill  with  their  tunnelings.  Tools 
lay  scattered  in  reckless  abandonment:  picks  that  must  have 
cost  from  $10  to  $20,  that  is,  from  half  an  ounce  to  an  ounce 
of  gold,  saws  that  are  worth  even  now  $6  at  Dawson,  nails  that 
were  bought  at  $100  per  keg;  car-wheels,  wheelbarrows,  and 
other  implements  of  mining — all  these  were  rusting  on  the 
wet  ground  and  suggested  something  of  the  extravagance  of 
the  'early'  days. 

At  that  period  Grand  Forks,  the  little  settlement  at  the 
junction  of  Eldorado  and  Bonanza  creeks,  was  a  pandemonium 
of  drunken  debauchery,  where  a  successful  miner  would  spend 
as  much  as  $2000  in  a  single  night,  ordering  'drinks'  (that  is, 
pints  of  champagne)  for  two  or  three  women  at  a  time  and 
telling  the  waiter  to  subtract  the  required  amount  of  'dust' 
from  the  small  moose-leather  sack,  called  a  'poke,'  in  which 
the  gold  was  carried.  The  owners  of  mines  passed  the  night 
in  drinking  and  dancing,  sleeping  in  the  day-time,  while  'lay- 
men' on  their  claims  were  digging  the  money  for  these  pro- 


FLAT   CREEK,   A  TRIBUTARY  OF   THE   KLONDIKE. 


234  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

tracted  sprees.  Miners  were  paid  $15  per  shift  of  10  hours ; 
thus  a  shift  was  wrorth  the  price  of  a  pint  of  champagne,  a  re- 
lation suggestion  that  the  crude  political  economy  of  the  mining 
camp  has  an  'index  number'  of  its  own.  Another  unit  was  the 
cost  of  mining  per  yard :  the  output  of  a  man  engaged  in  drift- 
ing or  open-cutting  with  pick  and  shovel  averaged  5  cubic 
yards  per  shift,  so  that,  including  miscellaneous  expenses,  it 
was  not  profitable  to  exploit  ground  yielding  less  than  $3  per 
cubic  yard. 

All  the  best  ground  on  the  rich  creeks  had  been  located  be- 
fore the  'rush'  arrived.  Late  in  1896  and  during  the  ensuing 
winter  the  miners  of  Circle  City  and  Forty-Mile  arrived  and 
secured  claims,  so  that  by  the  end  of  1897  fully  500  of  the  old 
settlers  had  planted  their  stakes.  When  the  crowd  arrived 
from  the  'outside'  in  the  spring  of  1898,  and  in  the  summer 
following,  they  found  themselves  too  late.  Many  of  them 
went  home  immediately,  disillusioned  and  disgusted.  A  few 
that  had  seen  something  of  mining,  among  whom  were  experi- 
enced men  from  California  and  Australia,  persisted  in  their 
search  and  found  the  bench  gravels  that  had  been  overlooked 
by  those  who  came  first  upon  the  ground. 

Englishmen  and  Americans  are  prone  to  compare  the 
methods  of  government  under  their  respective  flags,  and  while 
I  was  at  Dawson  I  took  pains  to  interview  a  few  thoughtful 
Americans  in  the  hope  of  eliciting  their  opinions  concerning 
the  local  administration.  In  the  main  the  verdict  is  favorable ; 
at  the  present  time  the  Yukon  is  efficiently  and  honestly  gov- 
erned, although  when  the  gold  excitement  was  at  its  height 
there  was  some  corruption;  that  was  inevitable.  From  the  win- 
ter of  1898  to  1903  there  was  jobbery  in  the  Administration 
building,  and  a  law  had  to  be  passed  forbidding  government 
employees  to  hold  claims.  After  that  the  officials  used  go- 
betweens,  but  carefully.  If  a  fraction  was  found  to  exist  be- 
tween claims,  by  reason  of  careless  staking,  and  if  then  this 
vacant  ground  was  located  and  the  locator  went  to  the  Re- 
corder, he  was  likely  to  be  told  that  the  ground  had  already 
been  located ;  thereupon  someone  was  tipped  to  go  to  the  creek 
and  plant  his  stakes,  unless  a  half-interest  was  given  by  the 


ON  BONANZA  CREEK. 


235 


locator  to  some  of  the  friends  of  the  corrupt  official.  Blanket 
concessions  also  provoked  resentment.  In  1902  Treadgold  ap- 
plied for  a  concession  of  all  claims  reverting  to  the  Crown  in 
the  entire  Klondike  district,  undertaking  to  install  a  compre- 
hensive water  system  in  return,  but,  after  the  lease  had  been 
actually  signed  by  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  a  public  meeting 


THE    PROSPECTOR   AND   HIS    ROCKER. 


was  called  at  Dawson  and  the  indignation  expressed  led  to  the 
cancellation  of  the  agreement.  Nor  did  Treadgold  sue  the 
Government. 

In  '97  and  '98  the  impression  prevailed  among  the  diggers 
that  the  Government  would  not  renew  the  leases  for  another 
year,  it  being  expected  that  the  claims  would  be  reduced  from 
500  feet  to  100  feet  square,  as  was  done  in  the  Cariboo  district. 


236  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

This  made  them  anxious  to  get  out  what  gold  they  could  before 
anything  happened,  for  it  was  known  that  an  Order  in  Council 
could  modify  the  local  regulations  at  short  order.  This  fear 
led  to  reckless  methods,  which,  coupled  with  the  high  cost  of 
transport  on  supplies  and  equipment,  made  the  cost  of  mining 
most  extravagant.  Freight  was  25  cents  per  pound.  Thus  the 
claim  known  as  No.  2  Above  on  Bonanza  yielded  $800,000  be- 
tween 1898  and  1902,  yet  only  37V2  per  cent  in  dividends  was 
paid  on  a  capital  of  $400,000.  If  worked  10  years  later — in 
1908 — when  freight  was  1  cent  per  pound  and  ordinary  labor 
$5  instead  of  $15  per  shift,  the  profit  would  have  been  $600,000. 

Of  the  claim-holders  on  the  rich  creeks  fully  two-thirds 
were  American  citizens  from  the  old  camps  dowrn  the  Yukon ; 
moreover,  after  the  rush  there  were  60,000  people  in  the  dis- 
trict, and  only  two  rich  creeks  to  divide  among  them ;  thus,  any 
sub-division  of  claims  would  have  been  popular  among  the  dis- 
gruntled majority.  When  Ogilvie  talked  about  the  marvelous 
richness  of  the  deposits,  the  Canadian  authorities  proposed  a 
royalty  of  20  per  cent  on  the  gold  output,  but  there  arose  such 
a  howl  from  the  diggers  that  the  impost  was  placed  at  10 
per  cent  on  the  gross  value  up  to  1901,  with  an  exemption  of 
the  first  $5000.  Later  the  exaction  was  reduced  to  an  export 
tax  of  21/.  per  cent,  which  is  now  deducted  by  the  banks  when 
they  purchase  the  gold. 

The  Government  is  generous,  and  wisely  so.  Foreigners 
have  the  same  privileges  as  Canadians;  no  license  to  mine  is 
necessary,  every  one  having  the  rights  of  a  'free  miner.'  Not 
even  during  the  corrupt  period  was  there  any  discrimination 
against  Americans,  much  as  they  feared  it.  On  the  whole,  the 
administration  of  law  and  order  is  greatly  to  the  credit  of 
Ogilvie,  of  the  other  Commissioners  who  succeeded  him.  and  of 
the  Mounted  Police,  for  all  of  them  underwent  the  severest 
trial  of  all,  namely,  the  vision  of  much  gold  and  the  chance 
to  get  rich  quickly.  We  shall  see  that  at  Nome  the  temptation 
proved  too  much  and  that  anarchy  ensued. 

The  administration  of  the  Yukon  Territory  is  vested  in  a 
Council,  headed  by  a  Commissioner,  who  is  the  representative 
of  the  Dominion  government.  Six  commissioners  have  held 


ON  BONANZA  CREEK. 


287 


office  since  1898,  the  first  being  Ogilvie.  There  is  no  specified 
term  of  office,  the  appointment  coming  at  the  hands  of  the 
Premier  of  Canada.  The  salary  is  $12.000,  and  extras.  The 
Council  is  half  elective  and  half  appointive,  the  latter  being 
usually  local  officials.  As  the  Council  can  act  only  on  the  initia- 
tive of  the  Commissioner,  and  no  money  can  be  voted  except 
at  his  suggestion,  the  Government  at  Ottawa  is  in  practical 
control.  It  is  not  representative  government,  but  it  is  more 
nearly  that  than  the  spoils  system  by  which  Alaska  gets  judges 
nominated  by  political  bosses  in  Montana  and  North  Dakota. 
The  Commissioners  have  been  men  of  character,  even  though 


ON  THE  VALDEZ  TRAIL  IX  WINTER. 

some  of  them  were  occasionally  bespattered  with  political  mud. 
Crude  'graft'  has  been  absent,  but  during  election  time  the 
Commissioner  has  been  known  to  increase  the  force  on  road- 
repairs  in  order  to  get  votes.  The  Gold  Commissioner — and.  by 
the  way,  the  title  of  Commissioner  is  worked  to  death — is  the 
most  important  of  the  subordinate  officers,  for  it  is  his  duty  to 
interpret  the  mining  regulations,  except  in  so  far  as  appeal 
may  be  made  to  the  courts.  At  one  time  this  functionary 
held  a  court  for  petty  offences  connected  with  mining,  the  cases 
being  decided  forthwith  on  their  merits  without  excessive  tech- 
nicalities. Now  all  such  matters  go  to  the  Territorial  Court. 
which  becomes  a  Supreme  Court  when  the  three  judges  sit  in 
full  bench.  The  Gold  Commissioner  also  is  appointed  at 


238  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Ottawa.  Three  men  have  held  this  office  successively.  In  the 
first  years,  1897  and  1898,  there  was  crookedness  among  the 
subordinate  officials  in  the  Gold  Commissioner's  department, 
notably  in  the  Recorder's  office.  Men  having  claims  to  record 
were  refused  grants  because  the  ground  was  stated  to  be  not 
open  for  location,  although  it  actually  was  vacant,  but  it  was 
desired  to  give  the  friends  or  accomplices  of  the  Recorder  a 
chance  to  locate  first.  It  was  the  custom  also  to  give  women 
the  right  of  way  at  the  Recorder's  wicket,  and  this  led  to  col- 
lusion, particularly  through  the  agency  of  the  loose  women 
who  then  infested  the  town.  Mass  meetings  were  held  to  voice 
the  public  indignation,  and  as  soon  as  communication  was  es- 
tablished with  Ottawa  these  wrongs  were  righted,  the  Gold 
Commissioner  then  in  power  was  removed,  and  such  perform- 
ances have  not  been  repeated.  At  no  other  time  was  there  a. 
real  break-down  in  the  system  of  local  government. 

The  judges  are  appointed  for  life  and  receive  good  salaries, 
from  $10,000  to  $12,000  a  year,  besides  perquisites.  Men  of 
high  character  are  selected  and  hold  office  during  good  be- 
havior. The  prosecuting  attorney  or  Crown  Prosecutor  is  ap- 
pointed by  the  Dominion  Government,  for  life  and  good  be- 
havior. He  is  apt  to  be  one  of  the  leading  legal  practitioners 
in  the  locality.  He  is  paid  by  fees,  not  by  salary,  rendering 
his  bill  to  the  Department  of  Justice  at  Ottawa.  In  an  Ameri- 
can mining  district  the  District  Attorney  is  usually  a  small 
politician,  and  the  people  are  likely  to  be  represented  by  a 
second-rate  lawyer,  while  the  criminal  engages  the  cleverest 
member  of  the  profession.  The  Territorial  Judges  are  paid  by 
the  Department  of  Justice  at  Ottawa  :  thus  they  are  independ- 
ent of  local  sentiment. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE   YUKON   DITCH. 

The  most  important  work  of  engineering  connected  with  the 
exploitation  of  the  golden  gravels  of  the  Klondike  and  its 
tributary  creeks  is  the  construction  of  the  Yukon  ditch.  This 
system  of  pipe,  ditch,  and  flume  has  a  total  length  of  70  miles. 
It  was  my  good  fortune  to  observe  the  building  of  this  conduit, 
which  brings  the  turbulent  waters  of  the  Tombstone  river  over 
hill  and  vale  to  the  diggings  near  Dawson.  In  company  with 
Messrs.  0.  B.  Perry,  C.  A.  Thomas,  Scott  Turner,  and  W.  F. 
Copeland,  I  rode  to  a  number  of  points,  affording  examples  of 
types  of  construction,  difficulties  of  the  work,  and  the  charac- 
ter of  the  life  in  camp. 

Several  schemes  for  bringing  water  under  pressure  to  the 
placer  mines  on  Bonanza  and  Hunker  creeks  have  been  consid- 
ered during  the  last  five  years.  One  of  these  involved  the  use 
of  the  water  flowing  in  the  Klondike  river,  but  it  was  ascer- 
tained by  survey  that  the  low  gradient  of  that  stream  would 
necessitate  a  ditch  fully  85  miles  long  and  an  expenditure  of 
about  $7,000,000.  A.  N.  C.  Treadgold,  the  promoter  of  the 
enterprise  now  known  as  the  Yukon  Gold  Co.,  made  surveys 
along  the  tributary  streams  flowing  into  the  Klondike  and  the 
Yukon  from  the  north.  Finally,  he  applied  for  a  right  of  way 
for  a  ditch  to  tap  the  head  of  the  Twelve-Mile  river.  This 
enters  the  Yukon  18  miles  below  Dawson,  and  has  its  source 
in  the  Tombstone  range,  a  part  of  the  Ogilvie  mountains,  which 
rise  to  an  altitude  of  7000  feet,  and  gather  sufficient  snow  to 
furnish  a  constant  supply  of  water.  It  was  estimated  that  a 
ditch  and  pipe-line  to  the  mines  near  Dawson,  with  a  capacity 
of  125  cubic  feet  per  second,  delivering  water  under  a  head  of 


240  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

350  feet,  would  be  70  miles  long  and  would  cost  $3,000,000.  It 
has  cost  over  this  amount  up  to  the  present  time,  and  will 
require  a  further  expenditure  of  $500,000.  The  total  distance 
between  the  head  of  the  ditch  and  Gold  hill,  the  point  of  distri- 
bution, is  70.2  miles,  the  difference  in  elevation  between  these 
points  being  1112.8  feet.  The  effective  head  along  Bonanza 
creek,  in  the  vicinity  of  Gold  hill,  is  375  feet.  The  construction 
includes  19.6  miles  of  flume,  38  miles  of  ditch,  and  12.6  miles 
of  pipe.  Owing  to  the  nature  of  the  ground  traversed,  it  has 
been  necessary  to  modify  the  size  and  gradient  of  the  ditch 
according  to  local  conditions,  but  the  standard  is  a  9-foot 
bottom,  with  3VL>-foot  depth  of  water,  and  a  gradient  of  6  feet 
per  mile,  ranging  from  a  minimum  of  4  to  a  maximum  of  7 
feet  per  mile.  In  places  the  ditch  is  fully  20  feet  wide.  The 
standard  flume  is  6  feet  wide  and  4  feet  deep,  with  a  gradient 
of  0.2841%  or  14  feet  per  mile.  The  pipe  varies  according  to 
the  engineering  requirements  and  is  variously  built  of  steel  and' 
wooden  staves,  so  as  to  have  a  diameter  ranging  from  42  to  54 
inches. 

Wherever  practicable  the  water  is  conducted  by  ditch,  for 
that  is  the  cheapest  and  most  durable  conduit.  A  ditch  is  neces- 
sarily dependent  upon  the  contour  of  the  surface  :  where  depres- 
sions exist,  a  long  detour  is  saved  by  building  either  a  flume 
or  pipe.  If  the  depresison  is  a  deep  ravine  or  a  broad  valley, 
it  becomes  impossible  to  construct  a  flume,  and  recourse  is 
had  to  a  pipe  in  U-form  (forming  a  so-called  inverted  siphon), 
the  loss  of  effective  head  being  measured  by  the  friction  between 
the  water  and  the  sides  of  the  pipe. 

The  country  traversed  by  this  ditch  is  a  rolling  woodland 
indented  by  the  alluvial  flats  of  the  Klondike,  the  Twelve-Mile, 
and  other  streams  flowing  into  the  Yukon  river.  As  seen  from 
a  height  the  wilderness  stretches  unbroken  from  the  mean- 
dering shimmer  of  the  Klondike,  enclosed  within  high  banks 
on  which  white  sears  mark  bench-diggings,  to  the  Ogilvie 
range,  where,  far  to  the  north,  the  snow  still  lingers  in  token 
of  the  gift  of  water  that  shall  enable  man  to  win  the  gold  from 
the  deposits  of  gravel  strewing  the  tortuous  valleys.  The  engi- 
neer who  first  planned  the  line  of  Hume,  ditch,  and  pipe  had 


THE  YUKON   DITCH. 


241 


that  kind  of  constructive  imagination  which  is  the  creative 
force  behind  all  engineering  work.  lie  imagined  the  deed  done, 
and  then  he  calmly  began  to  calculate  how  to  accomplish  it. 


THE   TOMBSTONE    IlIVER   AT    THE    INTAKE. 


As  viewed  from  afar  the  panorama  of  wooded  valleys  and  the 
distant  ranges  serving  as  a  water-shed,  afford  no  suggestion  of 
the  natural  obstacles  to  be  overcome,  but  a  closer  acquaintance 
soon  demonstrates  that  the  forest  is  but  a  scant  irrowth  of 


242  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

small  trees,  just  fit  for  telephone  poles,  not  big  enough  to  yield 
lumber,  struggling  to  assert  a  stunted  life  amid  the  vast  morass 
covering  the  face  of  the  land.  A  wet  blanket  of  moss  mantles 
the  ground,  which  is  held  in  the  grasp  of  a  perpetual  frost. 
Under  the  moss  is  ice ;  the  moss  forms  an  insulating  blanket 
so  that  even  the  short  warm  summer  does  not  thaw  the  frozen 
ground  lying  beneath  this  dark  green  coverlet.  In  places  the 
ice  melts  slightly  and  pools  of  water  form.  Everywhere  the 
surface  is  wet  and  sloppy.  Our  horses  splashed  through  it. 
We  stumbled  over  the  spongy  mass.  It  is  a  dismal  swamp, 
which  becomes  almost  impassable  when  torn  by  traffic.  Wher- 
ever a  trail  was  worn  by  use,  it  became  a  quagmire,  and  it  was 
best  to  turn  our  horses  to  the  untrodden  moss  alongside ;  in 
this  their  feet  would  sink  only  to  a  depth  of  6  or  8  inches,  for 
below  that  was  the  fro/en  ground :  but  where,  in  places,  the 
moss  was  cut  and  worn  away,  the  thaw  had  reached  deep 
enough  to  make  progress  impossible.  And  these  conditions 
obtained  not  only  on  the  fiats,  but  on  the  slopes.  The  water  is 
held  by  the  moss,  so  that  even  over  an  undulating  topography 
there  are  no  running  streams. 

In  returning,  Scott  Turner  and  I  took  a  short  cut,  leaving 
the  main  road  and  following  a  bridle  path  that  ran  across 
country  by  the  side  of  the  'pole-line',  that  is,  the  wire  of  electric 
transmission.  The  trail  ascended  a  hill  that  would  be  deemed 
steep  under  any  conditions,  but  being  covered  with  wet  moss  it 
seemed  like  the  side  of  a  house.  The  tundra  had  been  trodden 
by  the  hoofs  of  horses  and  was  soggy,  pools  of  water  enclosed 
by  moss  hung  to  the  slanting  surface,  and  when  half-way  it 
seemed  as  foolish  to  advance  as  to  retreat.  Fortunately  neither 
the  horse  nor  the  rider  laboriously  leading  him  sank  beyond 
a  limited  depth,  which  was  fixed  by  the  underlying  fro/en 
ground,  so  that  a  footing  was  obtained  even  in  the  worst  spots. 
The  incident  is  related  in  order  fo  emphasi/e  the  fact  that  the 
steepness  of  hillsides  does  not  suffice  to  drain  the  ground,  the 
wafer  from  the  thawed  surface  being  held  as  by  a  sponge 
within  the  covering  of  moss. 

In  preparing  to  build  the  ditch,  the  first  step  was  to  place 
a  saw-mill  on  the  Twelve-Mile  river,  and  thus  to  obtain  the 


THE  YUKON  DITCH. 


243 


lumber  for  construction.  Then  an  electric  generating  plant  was 
erected,  and  the  wires  were  strung  on  poles  for  36  miles,  trans- 
mitting power  from  the  Little  Twelve-Mile  river  to  Bonanza 
creek.  While  this  was  being  done,  surveys  for  the  ditch  were 
hastened.  As  soon  as  the  surveys  were  completed,  the  right-of- 
way  was  cleared.  The  small  growth  of  forest  was  removed, 
and  the  moss  stripped  from  the  frozen  ground  for  a  width  of 
one  chain  (22  yards).  Then  steam-shovels  were  put  to  work, 
and  while  they  were  digging  the  ditch,  the  saw-mill  on  the 
Twelve-Mile  yielded  the  lumber  needed  for  the  construction  of 
the  flume  and  for  other  purposes.  Seven  million  feet  (board 


FINISHING   THE   DITCH. 

measure)  of  lumber  was  cut:  this  depleted  the  small  forest 
in  the  vicinity,  but  it  proved  sufficient. 

Without  the  steam-shovel  it  would  have  been  hardly  possible 
to  dig  the  ditch  in  an  economical  manner,  for  manual  labor  at 
$4  per  day,  plus  board  at  $2,  or  a  total  of  $6  per  day,  is  a  costly 
instrument  of  engineering.  Six  shovels  were  employed.  These 
made  the  cut,  which  was  then  beveled  by  hand,  to  be  followed 
by  the  laying  of  moss  on  the  sloping  sides,  with  a  little  fine 
dirt  as  a  finishing  touch. 

Roads  of  the  corduroy  type  have  been  constructed,  moss 
being  laid  on  the  poles  and  dirt  on  the  moss.  The  trails  traverse 
the  brush  in  straight  lines.  Horses  and  men,  steam  and  muscle, 


244  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

have  fought  against  the  wilderness  and  subdued  it.  The  big 
ditch  looks  like  a  Panama  canal,  and  the  steam-shovels  groan- 
ing and  digging  in  the  deep  cuts  recall  pictures  of  Culebra. 
Many  of  the  laborers  had  worked  on  the  Isthmian  canal,  and 
assuredly  the  young  engineers  were  as  proud  of  the  work  they 
were  accomplishing  as  if  it  were  a  national  or  even  an  inter- 
national enterprise.  The  wilderness  that  had  lain  in  shivering 
silence  for  untold  ages,  responsive  only  to  the  footfall  of  the 
moose  and  the  caribou,  hearing  only  the  voice  of  the  stream 
and  the  crash  of  the  tempest,  has  been  invaded  to  the  very 
threshold  of  the  Arctic  by  insistent  man,  determined  to  use 
Nature  to  his  purpose,  to  overcome  her  obstacles  by  turning 
her  own  energy  and  her  own  power  to  his  good  in  the  quest 
for  gold. 

While  riding  to  various  points  of  interest  and  noting  the 
progress  of  the  work,  I  had  an  excellent  opportunity  of  viewing 
this  Northern  land  as  it  looks  before  it  is  scarred  and  disfig- 
ured by  the  encroachments  of  civilization.  The  dominant 
feature  is  spaciousness ;  it  is  a  land  of  magnificent  distances. 
Standing  on  the  top  of  any  of  the  higher  ridges  the  landscape 
is  impressive  rather  than  beautiful,  and  splendid  because  it  is 
vast;  the  shadows  of  swiftly  moving  clouds  sweep  over  the 
green  slopes,  the  air  is  still,  the  undulating  forest  is  unruffled, 
and  a  great  repose  broods  over  nature  as  at  the  dawn  of  crea- 
tion. It  is  a  primeval  wilderness :  man  and  his  handiwork  are 
lost  in  the  immensity  of  the  setting,  the  only  suggestion  of  his 
invasion  being  the  white  dots  of  tents,  the  slight  scar  of  the 
ditch  belting  a  hill,  and  the  undeviating  line  of  poles  carrying 
the  wire  wherewith  the  engineer  harnesses  the  torrent  to  his 
bidding.  There  is  no  sound:  every  footfall  is  muffled  by  the 
moss;  no  birds  sing,  no  insects  are  heard,  even  the  predatory 
mosquito  attacks  in  silence.  That  multiplicity  of  life,  of  insect, 
bird,  and  beast,  which  makes  the  tropics  intensely  alive,  is 
absent  in  the  region  bordering  the  Arctic  Circle.  Only  at  the 
noon  hour  or  in  the  evening  we  heard  the  whistle  of  a  steam- 
shovel,  its  little  call  to  rest  and  food  being  instantly  swallowed 
in  the  vast  stillness.  There  was  no  echo.  Approaching  Lepine 
creek  where  pipe-joints  were  being  made,  there  came  a  cheerful 


246  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

sound  of  crimping  and  rivetting.  reminding  the  citizen  of  San 
Francisco  of  the  re-building  of  his  ruined  city  and  of  Charles 
Field's  lines: 

"From  mighty  roots  of  concrete  deep 
The  giant  flowers  spring  from  sleep 
Along  the  barren  highways  of  the  city  of  my  love." 

Our  short  sojourns  at  the  camps  were  most  pleasant;  the 
food  was  excellent  and  the  keen  interest  taken  by  the  members 
of  the  engineer  staff  in  anything  relating  to  their  work,  or  to 
mining  generally,  prompted  many  interesting  conversations. 
The  men  in  charge  were  young,  the  chiefs  of  divisions  being 
about  30,  even  the  general  manager  and  consulting  engineer 
had  only  seen  33  years,  and  anyone  over  40  was  rare.  Most 
of  these  intelligent  and  energetic  young  fellows  were  graduates 
of  universities  and  schools  of  mines;  the  consulting  engineer 
came  from  Columbia,  the  manager  from  Stanford ;  among  other 
universities  Harvard,  California,  and  Michigan  were  repre- 
sented; if  Stanford  had  the  lion's  share  of  appointments  no  one 
complained,  for  the  manager  was  a  famous  football  player 
from  Palo  Alto. 

Among  many  pleasant  evenings  I  remember  best  the  one 
spent  at  the  camp  on  Lepine  ridge.  The  sun  set  in  golden 
curtains,  and  day  lingered  so  long  that  at  10  o'clock  we  were 
still  playing  quoits  with  horseshoes.  When  it  was  time  to 
sleep  it  still  seemed  too  early  despite  the  exertions  of  the  day. 
The  camp  commanded  a  fine  view,  looking  toward  the  Twelve- 
Mile  valley  and  the  Ogilvie  range.  In  the  west  the  clouds  arc 
still  edged  with  glowing  light;  against  this  background  the 
mountains  stand  silhouetted  in  sculptured  masses  of  deep 
purple  ;  in  the  middle  distance  stretches  a  trackless  expanse 
of  rolling  woodland  from  which  rises  a  thin  wreath  of  smoke- 
riot  the  incense  from  an  altar,  but  the  exhaust  of  a  steam-shovel, 
marking  the  farthest  outpost  of  industrial  conquest,  and  near 
it  is  seen  the  line  of  pipe  and  ditch,  becoming  a  mere  thread 
in  the  gathering  twilight.  As  the  brief  night  approaches  even 
these  traces  of  man's  doings  are  lost  in  the  boundless  wild, 
and  the  scene  loses  a  jarring  note.  A  pearly  light  suffuses  the 


WOODEN   STAVE   PIPE-LINE. 


PIPE    CROSSING   THE    KLONDIKE 


248 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


wilderness,  the  band  of  clear  amber  on  the  horizon  fades  into 
the  pale  flawless  blue  of  the  arching  sky,  in  which  even  now  no 
stars  are  visible.  In  the  farthest  distance  the  serrated  moun- 
tains are  shrouded  in  a  night  mist,  and  from  the  valley  comes 
the  faint  voice  of  the  river.  Peaceful  and  vast  is  the  picture. 
Thus  it  must  have  been  at  the  beginning  when  the  Creator 
brooded  over  His  handiwork,  before  the  footfall  of  man's  on- 
coming had  been  heard,  before  bird  sang  or  flower  grew,  while 
as  yet  the  earth  was  fresh  from  the  making,  and  strife  had  not 
be<run. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
FROM  DAWSON  TO  FAIRBANKS. 

On  July  28  at  11  p.m.  we  left  Dawson  on  the  Lavelk  Young, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  we  were  gliding  northward  on  the  full 
flood  of  the  Yukon,  whose  silvery  waters  caught  the  glow  of  a 
twilight  that  joined  the  beauty  of  the  sunset  with  the  promise 
of  the  dawn.  The  next  morning,  just  beyond  Forty-Mile,  we 
crossed  into  Alaska,  the  boundary  being  indicated  by  a  clear- 
ing 20  feet  wide  cut  straight  through  the  bush  with  undeviating 
line.  We  were  once  more  in  American  territory.  The  scenery 
continued  monotonous :  on  one  side  a  headland ;  on  the  other, 
flat  high  bank  and  low  shore  alternated  as  the  river  followed 
its  sinuous  channel  to  the  sea.  Eagle,  one  of  the  pioneer  settle- 
ments, is  interesting  on  account  of  its  association  with  Jack 
McQuesten,  a  hero  of  the  days  when  starvation  threatened  the 
widely  scattered  band  of  adventurers  in  the  northern  wild. 
The  old  store,  marked  McQuesten  &  Co.,  belongs  to  the  North- 
ern Commercial  Co.,  and  over  it  looms  tall  and  spare  the  tower 
of  the  wireless  telegraph  station,  indicating  that  this,  one  of 
the  oldest  mining  camps  in  Alaska,  is  at  last  in  touch  with  the 
outside  world.  Here  an  Army  post  has  been  established.  The 
next  port  of  call  was  Circle  City,  another  old  settlement,  de- 
riving its  name  from  the  supposition  that  it  stood  on  the  Arctic 
Circle,  which  is  still  several  miles  north.  Just  below  Circle  the 
Yukon  widens  into  the  Flats,  a  dreary  stretch  of  sand-bars  and 
swampy  islands. 

Early  next  morning  we  crossed  and  re-crossed  the  Arctic 
Circle,  that  imaginary  line  which  runs  around  the  earth  at  the 
latitude  of  66°  33'  north.  At  8  a.m.  on  July  30  we  called  at 
Fort  Yukon,  which  is  8  miles  north  of  the  Arctic  Circle,  and  I 


250  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

wrote  a  few  letters  to  friends  to  tell  them  that  "we  change  our 
skies  but  not  our  hearts."  The  settlement  now  called  Fort 
Yukon  is  a  few  miles  below  the  old  Hudson's  Hay  post,  founded 
in  1847 :  it  is  a  river  station  for  those  going  to  the  Koyukuk 
mining  district,  the  centre  of  which  is  Hetties.  150  miles  by  trail 
northward.  Below  this  "farthest  north"  of  the  Yukon,  the 
river  swings  sonthwestward  and  opens  into  a  continuation  of 
the  Flats — a  monotonous  scenery.  The  smoke  from  forest  fires 
smothered  the  landscape,  and  we  were  not  surprised  to  pass  a 
new  settlement  labeled  Purgatory. 

The  voyage  is  punctuated  by  frequent  halts  for  'wooding- 
up.'  the  term  given  to  the  process  whereby  fuel  is  transferred 
from  shore  to  boiler-room.  Thus  two  hours  are  consumed  each 
day,  for  the  La rcU 'e  Young  burns  26  cords  of  wood  in  24  hours. 
She  is  140  feet  long,  32  feet  in  the  beam,  and  draws  3  feet  of 
water.  The  current  of  the  Yukon  between  Dawson  and  the 
Tanana  averages  4|/>  miles  per  hour  and  by  the  aid  of  it  the 
steamer  covers  15  to  16  miles  per  hour.  From  Dawson  to 
Forty-Mile  the  current  attains  a  velocity  of  6  miles  per  hour. 
Here  are  the  distances  and  the  time  made  by  the  Lavelle  Youni/ •. 
someday  they  will  be  interesting,  although  today  they  are  not  : 

Miles.  Hours. 

Dawson  to  Forty-Mile 54  31!- 

Forty-Mile  to  Eagle 54  3 '  ... 

Eagle   to   Circle 1(55  10'-.. 

Circle  to  Fort  Yukon SO  (> 

Fort  Yukon  to  Rampart 225  131-.. 

Rampart   to  Tanana 75  5]i 

From  the  captain  I  learned  that  skilful  navigation  on  the 
Yukon  is  unlike  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  for  it  "cometh  by 
observation."  and  not  by  charts.  The  channel  is  changing  con- 
tinually, owing  to  the  undermining  of  the  banks  by  the  ice  and 
the  shifting  of  the  current.  How  rapidly  the  banks  are  under- 
cut is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  wood-piles  placed  50  to  60 
feet  from  the  edge  are  now.  only  two  months  later,  close  to  tin- 
water,  while  on  the  opposite  shore  the  river  is  depositing  silt 
with  compensating  rapidity.  At  one  place  on  the  Yukon  Flats 
the  river  had  encroached  125  feet  up  to  the  end  of  .July:  at 


FROM   DAWSON  TO  FAIRBANKS. 


251 


another  place  on  this  river  about  50  miles  below  Tanana,  col- 
umns of  frozen  earth  fully  100  feet  high  are  constantly  being 
loosened  from  the  bank ;  these  tough  frozen  masses  gradually 
incline  forward  as  they  become  undermined  by  the  current, 
until  finally  they  fall  into  the  water  with  a  splash  that  would 
endanger  even  the  largest  boat  on  the  river.  On  the  Koyukuk 
these  masses  detached  from  the  bank  contain  enough  ice  to  float 
on  the  stream  and  enough  soil  to  bear  standing  trees:  thus  thev 


ARRIVING   AT    EAGLE. 


constitute  veritable  floating  islands.  Capt.  Gray  tells  me  that 
he  has  seen  them  as  long  as  150  feet,  drawing  9  feet  of  water. 
Hence  the  particular  difficulty  of  piloting  vessels  of  even  shal- 
low draft  in  this  part  of  the  Yukon ;  hence  also  a  special  pilot 
comes  aboard  at  Circle  City,  taking  the  boat  in  hand  as  far  as 
Fort  Yukon.  To  overcome  the  dangers  due  to  shoals  the  steam- 
ers are  built  in  the  form  of  mere  skimming  dishes;  for  example, 
the  Koyul-uTi,  which  runs  520  miles  up  the  river  of  that  name, 
is  24  feet  wide  and  120  feet  long,  she  is  made  of  inch  boards 


252  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

on  the  sides  and  IV-j-mch  stuff  on  the  bottom.  When  empty  she 
draws  6  inches  forward  and  10  inches  aft,  when  her  boiler  is 
full  of  \vater  she  draws  10  inches  forward,  and  when  loaded 
with  60  tons  of  freight  her  draft  is  21  inches  only.  The  Lavelh 
Young,  on  which  we  traveled,  had  a  history :  she  was  originally 
designed  as  a  scow  for  a  dredge  which  some  Columbia  river 
pilots  purposed  placing  on  the  Koyukuk.  Under  her  own  steam 
she  was  taken  from  Portland  to  St.  Michael,  where  a  fancy 
price  was  offered  for  her  in  1898,  the  dredging  scheme  being 
abandoned  in  favor  of  the  assured  gains  of  river  traffic;  thus 
the  Lavelh  Young  was  chartered  for  passenger  and  freight  busi- 
ness on  the  rivers  of  Alaska.  She  has  three  main  rudders  each 
12  feet  long  and  two  monkey-rudders  each  8  feet  long.  No  sur- 
vey has  been  made  of  the  river,  so  that  all  the  pilot  has  to  aid 
him  is  a  track  chart  prepared  by  himself  or  the  captain,  record- 
ing the  course  with  regard  to  prominent  objects.  The  points 
on  the  river  are  named  after  the  wood-yards  or  the  camps  of 
Indian  traders.  A  slough  will  be  christened  with  the  name  of 
a  steamboat  that  made  a  mistake  and  roosted  there  for  a  month 
or  so ;  sand-bars  are  named  after  boats  that  got  into  trouble 
upon  them ;  thus  a  haphazard  nomenclature  is  evolved. 

At  1  p.m.  of  July  31  we  reached  the  confluence  of  the  Tanana 
and  the  Yukon,  the  meeting  of  river-trails  being  marked  by  a 
settlement  having  three  names — Tanana,  Fort  Gibbon,  and 
Weare.  An  Army  post  is  here  established,  two  companies  of 
the  Twenty-Second  regiment  being  in  quarters.  The  village 
stretches  along  the  right  bank  of  the  Yukon  and  consists  of 
many  saloons,  several  large  mercantile  stores,  and  the  barracks; 
at  the  northern  end  of  the  settlement  a  do/en  tents  along  the 
river  bank  arc  occupied  by  prospectors,  about  to  proceed  up 
the  Innoko,  Koyukuk,  and  other  streams  offering  a  golden  lure. 
11  is  a  pity  that  the  coining  and  going  of  these  nomads  is  not 
recorded,  together  with  information  concerning  their  finds  and 
the  conditions  observed  on  the  various  creeks;  they  seem  to 
follow  each  other  in  a  shiftless  manner,  one  party  going  where 
only  the  season  before  another  party  had  tested  the  ground 
without  success.  They  suggest  a  pitiful  waste  of  energy  and 
time.  ;is  well  ;is  knowledge. 


FROM  DAWSON  TO  FAIRBANKS. 


253 


A  dull  day  ended  in  a  wonderful  night,  ushered  by  a  re- 
splendent sunset.  The  wretched  little  steamer  moving  to  the 
irregular  rhythm  of  the  paddle-wheel  at  the  stern  was  without 
a  nautical  curve  in  her  design  or  a  glimmer  of  poetry  in  her 
appearance,  but  when  I  stood  in  the  pilot-house  beside  Capt. 
C.  A.  Boerner  while  he  steered  his  vessel  into  the  gateway  of 
the  sun,  we  entered  a  veritable  realm  of  enchantment.  The 
vessel  is  gliding  forward  on  the  swift  broad  current,  no  sound 


CAMP  OX  THE   TNNOKO. 

is  heard  save  the  ripple  of  the  parted  wave  and  the  deep  breath- 
ing of  the  engine;  we  are  hastening  into  the  sunset  mirrored 
in  the  shining  water,  but  we  come  no  nearer  to  the  splendor, 
which  beckons  ahead.  A  headland  throws  a  pyramidal  reflec- 
tion across  our  path;  we  cross  it  with  silver  rippling;  the  low 
dim  land  on  either  side  fringes  the  river  with  mystery,  while 
far  and  faint  a  single  mountain  peak  in  the  heart  of  the  wild 
stands  sentinel.  An  island  is  passed,  and  yet  another,  before 
the  boat  enters  a  broad  sheet  of  radiant  water.  The  sunset, 
still  ahead,  glorifies  the  way.  Only  a  purple  headland  separates 
the  splendor  sailing  in  the  sky  from  the  beauty  swimming  in 
the  wave.  A  wind,  balmy  as  the  breath  of  spring,  is  wafted 


254  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

from  the  south ;  the  frozen  land  has  surrendered  to  the  stainless 
glory  of  the  moment,  and  the  ineffable  beauty  that  looks  down 
upon  the  sleeping  wilderness. 

They  say  that  those  who  have  lived  more  than  a  year  with- 
in the  interior  of  Alaska  suffer  a  nostalgia  that  knows  no  cure 
save  the  return  to  the  land  they  love ;  they  feel  the  pull  of  a 
magnet  that  draws  them  from  the  busy  haunts  of  men  back  to 
the  lonesome  outposts  of  the  North.  It  is  the  love  of  the  sailor 
for  the  sea,  of  the  mountaineer  for  the  peaks,  of  the  prospector 
for  the  desert.  If  the  briefest  of  sojourns  in  Alaska  may  permit 
of  a  true  impression  and  a  touch  of  sympathy  with  the  home- 
sickness of  the  Alaskan,  I  would  impute  the  haunting  charm 
of  the  country  to  the  spaciousness,  the  untrammeled  life,  the 
freedom  from  restraint,  the  old  ineradicable  Adam  that  loves 
to  be  his  own  master  as  in  the  days  before  the  serpent  compli- 
cated life  by  suggestions  of  disquiet.  Prospectors,  miners, 
woodsmen,  and  explorers  who  come  to  the  big  cities  soon  find 
that  they  are  nobody ;  the  things  they  can  do  well  avail  them 
nothing;  the  multiplicity  of  things  they  cannot  do  shames 
them;  from  being  monarchs  of  all  they  survey  they  are  subjects 
of  all  whom  they  see.  No  wonder  they  yearn  for  the  bound- 
less horizon,  the  untainted  oxygen,  and  the  perfect  emancipa- 
tion of  life  on  the  far  outposts  of  empire.  To  come  to  the  re- 
laxing atmosphere  of  civilization  is  depressing  to  one  of  these, 
for  they  have  breathed  an  air  as  pure  as  inter-planetary  space, 
they  have  felt  the  physical  stimulation  of  the  dawn  "when  the 
mountains  were  flushed  as  with  wine,  in  the  morning  of  Time." 

At  Fort  Gibbon  passengers  are  usually  transferred  to  a 
smaller  boat,  which  takes  them  up  the  Tanana  river  to  Fair- 
banks. Navigation  becomes  more  difficult,  for  this  tributary 
of  the  Yukon  is  swift  and  uncertain :  a  shoal  may  exist  today 
where  adequate  flotation  was  obtainable  a  week  ago;  therefore, 
we  did  not  protest  when  the  steamer  ran  aground,  merely  con- 
gratulating ourselves  when  we  got  off.  At  7  p.m.  we  passed 
Nenana,  a  pretty  name  associated  in  my  memory  not  with  a 
lithe  Indian  maiden  or  a  graceful  canoe,  but  a  curious  fact  in 
physiography.  By  ascending  the  Nenana  river  the  traveler  can 
reach  a  group  of  lakes  on  Hroad  pass,  the  divide  separating  the 


256  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

watershed  of  the  Tanana  from  that  of  the  Susitna,  whose  waters 
flow  into  Cook's  Inlet.  Similarly,  by  following  the  Delta,  an- 
other tributary  of  the  Tanana,  to  its  source,  one  can  reach 
Gulkana  lake  and  proceed  down  the  Gulkana  river,  a  tributary 
of  the  Copper  river,  into  Prince  William  sound.  Finally,  by 
proceeding  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Tokio,  a  third  tributary, 
the  Mentasta  lakes  are  reached,  and  from  them  it  is  possible  to 
descend  by  Mentasta  creek  into  the  Salana,  thence  to  the  Cop- 
per river,  and  onward  to  the  sea.  These  three  instances  show 
the  lowness  of  the  divide  between  the  watersheds,  for  in  each 
case  a  waterway  is  available  by  means  of  a  lake  linking  a  river 
on  the  east  with  another  on  the  west.  Other  cases  might  be 
mentioned  in  the  same  region,  where  a  short  portage  will  trans- 
fer a  canoe  from  one  watershed  to  another.  This  is  an  unusual 
type  of  topography.  The  same  condition  is  indicated  by  the 
sinuous  course  of  the  rivers ;  from  Tolovana  to  Xenana  it  is  65 
miles  by  river  and  28  miles  across  country.  "Two  bends  and  a 
look"  is  a  local  mode  of  describing  the  distance  between 
points. 

AVhen  the  LareUe  Young  met  the  Tanana,  the  passengers  for 
Fairbanks  were  transferred  to  the  latter,  much  to  their  satis- 
faction ;  at  the  same  time  a  number  of  mail-sacks  containing 
gold  were  shifted,  each  sack  holding  22  bars  weighing  4  pounds 
apiece.  They  were  treated  with  scant  ceremony.  The  Tanana 
is  an  excellent  little  boat,  ably  commanded  by  Capt.  James  T. 
Gray;  she  is  150  feet  long  and  30  feet  in  the  beam:  when 
launched  her  draft  was  14  inches,  with  steam  up,  but  without 
equipment ;  now  she  draws  18  to  22  inches  of  water;  when 
loaded  with  150  tons  her  draft  is  32  inches  aft  and  38  inches 
forward,  each  additional  10  tons  lowering  her  an  inch  into  the 
water.  Her  engines  are  horizontal,  simple,  non-condensing, 
with  13-inch  cylinders  and  a  stroke  of  6  feet,  the  valve-motion 
being  controlled  by  a  link  actuated  by  two  eccentrics  from  the 
paddle-wheel  shaft.  The  hull  is  coated  with  carbolineum.  The 
barge  she  pushed  was  100  feet  long,  had  a  draft  of  39  inches, 
and  carried  140  tons.  In  the  management  of  this  barge,  Capt. 
Gray  showed  a  skill  which  it  was  pleasant  to  watch.  While  the 
boats  on  the  upper  Yukon  have  a  square  nose  or  bow.  the 


STEAMER   RECEIVING  WOOD  OX  THE   YUKON. 


258  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Tanana  has  the  usual  pointed  bow,  which  impinges  on  the  stern 
of  the  barge.  By  manipulating  the  ropes  attaching  the  two 
vessels  to  each  other,  the  bow  of  the  steamer  acts  as  a  fulcrum 
when  turning  the  barge  in  a  sharp  bend  of  the  channel.  This 
method  is  called  'jack-knifing.'  The  deflection  of  the  barge  is 
managed  by  means  of  rope  and  tackle,  operated  from  a  double- 
headed  winch ;  the  ropes  being  pulled  in  or  let  out  on  alternate 
sides  so  as  to  point  the  barge  this  way  or  that  according  to  the 
bell  signals  of  the  pilot.  While  this  is  being  done,  two  men 
(one  on  each  side  of  the  forward  end  of  the  barge)  are  sound- 
ing, and  as  they  cannot  be  seen  or  heard  by  the  pilot  owing  to 
the  housing  and  distance,  a  third  man  stands  on  top  and  repeats 
the  soundings  to  the  pilot.  By  placing  the  barge  ahead  of  the 
steamer,  navigation  in  a  tortuous  channel  is  aided,  for  the  barge 
acts  as  a  large  rudder,  preventing  a  steamer  of  shallow  draft 
from  being  swept  around  by  the  current.  Note  may  be  made  of 
the  fact  that  during  summer  in  the  upper  reaches  of  the  Tanana, 
there  is  sometimes  a  daily  rise  of  as  much  as  two  feet,  owing  to 
the  melting  of  glacier  ice  during  the  warm  hours  of  the  day, 
causing  a  river  tide. 

The  many  tributaries  of  the  Yukon  are  navigable  to  their 
headwaters  by  steamers  of  not  over  two  feet  draft,  the  gradient 
of  the  streams  averaging  about  one  foot  per  mile  despite  occas- 
ional rapids.  Thus  small  steamboats  have  ascended  or  de- 
scended the  Teslin  from  the  head  of  the  lake,  the  Lewes  from 
Lake  Bennett,  both  the  Porcupine  and  the  Chandlar  for  150 
miles,  the  Tanana.  for  700,  the  Koyukuk  and  the  Innoko,  for 
over  500  miles.  All  of  which  testifies  to  the  low  topography  of 
the  interior  of  Alaska  and  the  Yukon. 

Prospectors  ascend  the  smaller  streams  by  means  of  'poling,' 
one  man  standing  at  the  bow  and  another  at  the  stern.  The 
poles  are  12  to  14  feet  long,  pointed  with  iron,  and  the  boats 
are  flat-bottomed  for  at  least  two-thirds  of  their  total  length. 
They  draw  from  7  to  8  inches  and  carry  1200  to  1500  pounds. 
By  this  method  from  10  to  15  miles  per  day  is  traveled. 

Between  Fort  (Jibbon  and  Fairbanks,  the  current  averages 
4  miles  per  hour,  with  a  maximum  of  7.  When  pushing  a  barge, 
the  Tanaiid  made  (>  to  o'1^  miles  per  hour  against  the  stream 


FROM   DAWSON  TO  FAIRBANKS. 


2*9 


and  a  speed  of  20  miles  coming  down-stream,  when  she  "ran 
like  a  scared  dog."  The  fuel  is  wood,  which  is  consumed  at  the 
rate  of  a  cord  per  hour  and  $7  per  cord.  At  Dawson,  owing  to 
the  distance  from  uncut  forests,  the  price  of  wood  is  $14 ;  down 
the  Yukon  it  is  $7  to  $8  per  cord. 

The  little  flat-bottomed  steamers  are  well  adapted  to  the 
shallow  rivers  of  Alaska.  One  of  the  most  useful  was  the  first 
Koyukul\  which,  with  steam  up.  drew  only  8  inches  forward 


POLING   ON   THK    TNNOKO. 

and  10Vi>  inches  aft.  when  loaded  with  fuel  for  three  hours, 
besides  all  her  equipment,  and  stores.  Her  two  engines  were 
9  by  48  inches.  This  friend  of  the  prospector  was  wrecked  on 
the  upper  reaches  of  the  Tanana  during  a  severe  windstorm, 
such  as  she  was  ill  fitted  to  meet  on  account  of  her  lightness 
above  water.  Another  boat  of  the  same  name  has  been  built, 
and  to  her  reference  was  made  earlier  in  this  chapter. 

Meanwhile,  we  were  progressing  toward  Fairbanks.  At  Six- 
teen-Mile the  Tanana  went  over  a  place  where  only  three  years 
ago  there  stood  a  road-house — a  reminder  of  the  vagaries  of 
stream-erosion.  Each  break-up  of  the  ice  in  the  spring  starts 


260  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

the  cutting  of  a  new  channel,  according  as  the  ice  restrains 
or  releases  the  accumulated  water.  Approaching  Chena,  we 
passed  a  refrigerator  barge,  suggesting  the  manner  in  which 
perishable  foodstuffs  are  transported  to  the  interior  of  the 
country.  This  barge  was  towed  from  Seattle  to  St.  Michael, 
where  she  received  her  cargo,  300  tons  of  meat  and  poultry, 
worth  $200,000.  At  Fairbanks  the  retail  price  is  40  to  50  cents' 
per  pound.  As  we  passed,  the  ill  regulated  explosions  of  a  gaso- 
line engine  indicated  the  power  used  for  refrigeration.  Soon 
after,  we  met  a  man  in  a  punt,  using  a  single  pole.  When  going 
up-stream,  keeping  to  the  shallows,  he  would  use  two  poles,  one 
in  each  hand.  From  his  boat  we  saw  smoke  arising  as  if  from  a 
miniature  boiler;  it  was  a  'smudge'  or  dank  fire  to  ward  off 
mosquitoes. 

At  noon  on  August  2  we  'hove  to'  at  Chena,  where  the 
boats  leave  the  main  stream  and  ascend  a  slough  ten  miles  to 
Fairbanks.  Approaching  the  town,  log-cabins  come  into  view 
dominated  by  the  tower  of  a  large  school-house,  proving  that  a 
thirst  for  knowledge  is  encouraged  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
Alaskan  moorland.  Another  large  wooden  structure  proves  to 
be  a  brewery,  the  evidence  of  thirst  of  another  kind.  On  the 
outskirts  of  the  settlement,  the  gardens  of  potatoes  and  cab- 
bage indicate  the  beginnings  of  agriculture  and  a  protest 
against  canned  vegetables,  the  use  of  which  is  suggested  by 
large  heaps  of  discarded  'tins.'  Who  said  there  was  no  tin 
in  Alaska?  More  tin  has  been  imported  thither  than  has  been 
produced  in  the  mines.  Capt.  Gray  told  me  that  the  St.  Paul 
had  taken  10  tons  of  tin  ore  in  one  shipment  from  Nome,  and, 
said  he:  "Ten  tons  goes  a  long  way."  Truly;  but  not  so  far 
as  the  scrapped  tin-plate  has  already  come.  The  empty  tin 
cans  used  to  be  thrown  into  the  river,  where  they  became  filled 
with  sand  and  impeded  navigation.  Now  there  is  a  United 
States  law  against  the  throwing  of  tin  cans  into  the  rivers;  in 
time  there  will  be  a  tin  mine  in  Alaska. 

At  3 :  :}0  p.m.  we  stepped  ashore  at  Fairbanks  and  within 
an  hour  we  were  careering  up  the  valley  in  a  motor-car  run- 
ning on  the  rails  of  the  Tanana  Valley  Railroad.  Our  host  was 
Falcon  Jos) in.  the  president  of  the  railroad,  a  gentleman  pos- 


0(J2  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

sessed  of  both  humor  and  knowledge.  We  ran  up  to  Gilmore 
(21  miles)  and  back,  the  return  being  made  at  a  speed  trying 
to  the  nerves  of  a  'cheechako.'  Thus  first  impressions  were 
gained  and  an  appetite  acquired.  As  to  the  latter,  it  was  not 
of  hopeless  yearning,  for  did  we  not  read  in  a  store  window: 
"Cracked  eggs,  75  cents  per  dozen."  You  cannot  make  an 
omelette  without  breaking  eggs ;  here  then  there  was  promise 
of  an  omelette.  But  we  fared  even  better,  dining  extravagantly 
on  perfect  grayling  and  a  blueberry  pie  made  with  the  wild 
fruit  of  the  Tanana  moors.  After  'supper'  in  the  clear  light 
of  the  Alaskan  summer  evening,  we  strolled  through  the  town, 
noting  the  banners  of  rival  candidates  and  signs  indicating  the 
headquarters  of  political  parties  in  an  election  for  delegate  to 
Congress.  Pretty  log-cabins,  with  gardens  full  of  flowers,  lined 
the  river  banks  and  suggested  the  presence  of  the  plucky 
women  who  accompany  their  mates  in  the  search  for  gold. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
FAIRBANKS. 

The  story  of  the  founding  of  Fairbanks  is  one  of  the  ro- 
mances of  the  North ;  and  like  such  romances  it  has  its  sordid 
page.  In  1897  E.  T.  Barnette  brought  a  boat  up  the  Yukon, 
from  St.  Michael  to  Circle  City,  and  thence  to  Dawson.  In  the 
spring  of  '98  he  went  'outside,'  returning  to  Seattle  for  awhile. 
The  two  following  years  were  spent  at  Dawson.  In  the  spring 
of  1901  Capt.  Barnette,  as  he  was  now  called  by  reason  of 
having  commanded  a  boat,  bought  a  stock  of  goods,  weighing 
100  tons,  at  San  Francisco;  these  he  shipped  to  St.  Michael, 
where  he  chartered  the  Lavclle  Young,  intended  originally  for 
a  dredge-scow,  and  with  her  he  steamed  up  the  Yukon  and  the 
Tanana.  His  intention  was  to  start  a  store  where  the  Valdez 
and  Eagle  trail  crosses  the  Tanana,  at  a  point  about  300  miles 
above  the  present  site  of  Fairbanks.  It  was  generally  known 
that  a  belt  of  copper  veins  existed  at  the  headwaters  of  the 
Tanana  and  White  rivers.  With  this  in  view,  Barnette  went 
up  the  Tanana,  on  the  Lavelle  Young,  which  he  had  placed  in 
charge  of  a  man  who  proved  unaccustomed  to  the  navigation 
of  swift  and  shallow  rivers.  Discovering  that  the  boat  had  not 
sufficient  power  to  go  farther  without  the  aid  of  lines  for  tow- 
ing, he  went  14  miles  above  the  junction  of  the  Chena  to  the 
foot  of  the  Bates  rapids.  Unable  to  proceed  farther,  Barnette 
and  his  expedition  returned  to  the  mouth  of  the  Chena  and 
worked  their  way  up  the  slough  to  the  place  where  Fairbanks 
now  stands.  The  site  was  chosen  by  reason  of  the  high  bank, 
promising  escape  from  floods,  and  an  unusual  growth  of  forest, 
including  many  spruce  24  to  30  inches  in  diameter.  Here  they 
landed  on  August  24,  1901. 


26-1  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Another  version  of  this  part  of  the  story  is  that  Barnette 
did  not  try  to  go  above  Chena  on  the  main  stream  of  the  Tanana, 
as  it  was  then  supposed  that  the  Bates  rapids  began  just  at 
Chena.  He  went  up  the  slough  a  few  miles  above  the  present 
site  of  Fairbanks,  and  finding  further  progress  impracticable, 
he  dropped  back,  in  perplexity  as  to  what  to  do  next.  He  tied 
up  for  the  night  to  a  convenient  shore  and  the  next  morning 
unloaded  his  goods.  The  master  of  the  boat,  Thomas  Bruce, 
claimed  that  he  had  fulfilled  his  contract,  which  was  to  take 
Barnette  to  Mentasta  crossing  or  "as  far  up  as  practicable." 
Thus  the  position  of  Fairbanks  was  fixed. 

The  steamer  returned  to  St.  Michael,  leaving  five  men,  be- 
sides Capt.  Barnette  and  his  courageous  wife.  Four  of  the 
party  went  out  prospecting,  and,  of  these,  Dan  McCarty  located 
the  claims  known  later  as  No.  1  Above  on  Fairbanks  creek. 
No.  2  Below  on  Cleary,  and  No.  5  on  Gold  Stream. 

Even  before  these  locations  were  made,  in  the  fall  of  1901. 
a  party  of  five  men  had  come  across  country  from  Circle  City, 
which  is  175  miles  northeast.  Felix  Pedro,  Tom  Jurack,  Bert 
Johnson,  and  two  others  were  prospecting  for  a  creek  that  Pedro 
had  discovered  three  years  earlier.  He  had  wandered  into  this 
region  from  the  Forty-Mile,  and  while  alone  he  had  run  out  of 
supplies,  lost  his  way,  and  finally  reached  Circle.  In  the  course 
of  his  wanderings  he  found  a  creek  containing  gold;  that  creek 
has  never  been  re-discovered  and  remains  one  of  the  'lost 
mines'  of  the  prospector's  mythology.  Knowing  that  Barnette 
was  coming  up  the  Tanana  with  supplies,  the  five  men  led  by 
Pedro  took  the  risk  of  exploring  ahead  of  him.  From  a  ridge 
east  of  the  river,  from  a  height  now  called  the  Pedro  Dome, 
they  saw  the  Lavclle  Young  coming  up  the  Tanana.  On  the  first 
night  following  the  landing  of  Barnette,  these  men  came  into 
his  camp.  They  were  out  of  supplies  and  had  been  living  on 
berries  and  game.  Soon  after  it  became  generally  known  at 
Circle  City  that  a  trading  post  had  been  established  on  the 
Tanana  and  30  men  came  across  country  in  March  1902.  On 
July  27,  of  the  same  year,  Pedro  made  the  first  discovery  of 
gold  in  the  district  at  the  head  of  Gold  Stream  where  it  nar- 
rows into  Pedro  creek.  lie  picked  up  some  gold  in  the  bed  of 


266  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

the  living  stream  and  sank  a  hole  into  the  frozen  ground  to 
one  side.  The  discovery  was  kept  secret  among  the  dozen  men 
then  in  the  vicinity. 

In  the  meantime  Barnette  was  absent.  He  went  'out'  in  the 
spring  of  1902,  going  by  the  trail  to  Valdez,  thence  to  Seattle, 
where  he  built  the  Isabelle.  This  vessel  was  'knocked  down,'  or 
disjointed,  and  shipped  to  St.  Michael,  where  she  was  put  to- 
gether. Barnette  arrived  at  his  trading  post  on  September  5, 
1902,  intending  to  proceed  up  the  river,  as  originally  planned. 
He  now  had  a  boat  of  light  draft,  suitable  for  his  purpose.  But, 
on  arrival,  he  heard  of  the  discovery  of  gold,  and  that,  of 
course,  changed  everything.  He  decided  to  stay  where  he  was 
and  himself  located  several  claims,  others  having  been  pre- 
viously staked  for  him  by  that  legal  fiction  known  as  'power 
of  attorney' — one  of  the  curses  of  Alaska. 

Among  those  who  came  with  Barnette  on  the  Isabelle  was 
Wadda,  a  Japanese,  a  redoubtable  character,  who  was  then 
serving  as  cook,  but  intended  to  trade  on  his  own  account  with 
the  Indians.  In  January  1903,  he  went  with  a  dog  team  to 
Circle  and  then  to  Dawson,  where  he  told  the  news  of  the  dis- 
covery made  by  Pedro  and  McCarty  on  Gold  Stream.  Both 
of  these  finds  looked  promising,  for  McCarty  was  getting  as 
much  as  20  cents  per  pan.  At  Dawson.  Wadda  met  Capt.  H.  II. 
Norwood,  a  whaler  with  whom  he  had  served  in  the  Arctic ;  he 
urged  Norwood  to  put  up  the  money  required  to  buy  claims  in 
the  new  district.  Norwood  proved  unwilling,  but  in  the  mean- 
while Wadda 's  talk  had  leaked  out.  A  stampede  ensued  at 
once.  In  February,  March,  and  April  800  men  left  Dawson  for 
Gold  Stream.  Most  of  these  were  not  real  miners,  but  the  float- 
ing population  of  Dawson;  such  men  are  called  'stampeders. ' 
Arriving,  they  were  soon  disgusted  by  the  absence  of  gambling 
and  other  gaieties;  they  were  disappointed  in  seeing  so  little 
gold,  forgetting  in  their  hurry  for  fortune  that  it  took  time  and 
work  to  produce  an  output.  Thereupon  they  asserted  that 
Wadda  had  deceived  them,  and  wanted  to  lynch  him.  They 
also  threatened  an  attack  on  Barnette 's  store;  but  a  few  well 
armed  men  thwarted  their  purpose.  Subsequently,  several 
hundred  of  these  men  left  the  district  for  the  mouth  of  the 


FAIRBANKS.  267 

Yukon,  departing  in  small  boats  and  even  on  rafts.  These  fel- 
lows condemned  the  region,  so  that  the  supplies  that  had  been 
intended  for  traders  at  Fairbanks  were  either  diverted  to 
other  points  or  countermanded  altogether.  In  consequence,  a 
severe  shortage  of  food  was  experienced  during  the  ensuing 
winter,  and  many  would  have  died  from  starvation,  if,  for- 
tunately, great  herds  of  caribou  had  not  crossed  the  district  on 
their  annual  migration  southward,  and  if  the  supply  of  ptarmi- 
gan and  rabbits  had  not  been  unusually  plentiful.  Soon  after, 
deary  creek  was  discovered  and  there  was  rich  ground  for 
everyone. 

With  the  first  snow  that  fell  in  the  fall  of  1904— in  October 
— a  boiler  of  40  horse-power  wTas  hauled  to  Cleary  and  set  up 
on  No.  1  Below.  This  marked  the  beginning  of  real  mining. 
Previous  to  that  event  the  work  had  consisted  mainly  of  "snip- 
ing around  with  little  porcupine  boilers,"  that  is,  desultory 
digging  by  means  of  thawing  effected  with  crude  appliances. 
The  men  first  on  the  ground  had  ascertained  that  the  'pay' 
was  deep  and  being  themselves  too  timid  to  get  the  requisite 
machinery  "they  sat  around  and  whittled"  until  the  experi- 
enced miners  from  Dawson  arrived  and  bought  the  claims. 

A  settlement  sprang  up  around  the  camp  built  by  Capt. 
Barnette  and  to  the  town  was  given  the  name  of  Fairbanks,  in 
honor  of  the  Senator  who  became  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States.  In  1903  the  population  was  about  800  and  $35,000  in 
gold  was  produced;  in  1904  the  population  increased  to  3000 
and  the  gold  production  to  $350,000 ;  in  1905,  with  a  population 
of  6000,  the  yield  of  gold  reached  $3,750,000 ;  and  in  1906,  with 
8000,  the  output  was  $9,175,000.  At  the  present  time  the  town 
has  3500  people  and  the  district  about  15.000.  In  1908  the 
gold  output,  despite  labor  troubles,  was  $9,250,000. 

Fairbanks  is  an  attractive  settlement  and  an  important  dis- 
tributing point.  Someday  it  will  be  on  a  transcontinental  rail- 
road. In  regard  to  this,  I  was  enlightened  by  Mr.  Joslin,  an 
optimist  restrained  by  good  judgment.  Alaska  needs  a  trunk 
railway  system  and  eventually  such  a  system  will  become  part 
of  a  lino  of  communication  between  New  York  and  Paris.  It  is 
suggested  that  a  railroad  should  be  built  from  Haines  to  Fair- 


268  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

banks,  650  miles,  and  thence  to  Nome,  another  600  miles. 
Haines  is  at  the  head  of  Lynn  Canal,  just  south  of  Skagway; 
it  is  a  military  post  and  was  long  known  as  Haines  Mission. 
From  Pyramid  Harbor,  near  Haines,  many  prospectors  in  the 
early  years  started  for  the  interior  and  bands  of  cattle  were 
driven  through  the  Chilkat  pass  along  the  Dalton  trail  to  Fort 
Selkirk  and  Dawson.  Over  the  neighboring  passes  the  Indians 
of  the  interior  used  to  bring  the  peltry  sold  to  the  agents  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  in  the  days  before  Alaska  belonged 
to  the  United  States.  The  Chilkat  pass  is  2800  feet  above  tide- 
water and  50  miles  from  shore,  so  that  at  no  place  would  the 
railroad  grade  be  more  than  2  per  cent.  North  of  the  coast 
range  the  line  would  enter  the  Alsek  valley,  which  is  part  of  a 
broad  ancient  valley  (the  Shakwak)  partly  occupied  now  by  the 
Kluane  and  other  lakes.  This  district  is  suitable  for  agricul- 
ture, and,  though  but  little  explored,  it  is  known  to  contain  de- 
posits of  gold  and  copper  ore,  as  well  as  coal.  Then  the  rail- 
road would  cross  the  head  of  the  White  river,  where  are  large 
copper  deposits ;  thence  over  a  grassy  plain  to  the  head  of  the 
Tanana  and  down  that  river  to  Fairbanks.  No  elevation  has 
to  be  surmounted  except  in  crossing  the  coast  range  at  the 
Chilkat  pass.  Near  Haines  are  copper,  gold,  and  iron  deposits. 
Twelve  miles  from  this  deposit,  and  32  miles  from  Haines,  are 
the  Porcupine  placers,  in  the  Yukon,  and  beyond  them  in  Cana- 
dian territory  are  the  Alsek  diggings.  Coal  seams  are  known 
to  exist  on  this  route  at  several  places.  One  objection  to  such 
a  railroad  is  the  necessity  for  traversing  Canadian  territory 
for  a  short  distance,  but  this  is  not  a  serious  obstacle.  As  a 
steamer  service  all  the  year  round  is  maintained  even  now 
with  Ilaines,  and  as  vessels  can  keep  within  the  quiet  waters 
of  the  'inland  passage'  all  the  way  from  Seattle,  this  would 
furnish  an  excellent  line  of  communication.  Fairbanks  is  now 
21  days  from  the  'States';  by  building  a  road  through  the 
centre  of  the  interior  country  Alaska  would  practically  cease 
to  be  a  "non-contiguous  possession,"  becoming  an  integral 
portion  of  the  United  States.  Two  thousand  miles  of  railroad, 
at  $30.000  per  mile,  would  accomplish  this  purpose. 

Meanwhile  we  had  the  advantage  of  traveling  on  a  railroad 


FAIRBANKS.  269 

that  marked  the  beginning  of  improved  communication,  and 
as  the  train  of  the  Tanana  Valley  railway  system  glided  from 
the  siding  that  constituted  the  Fairbanks  terminus,  we  could 
without  cost  imagine  ourselves  on  the  way  from  New  York  to 
Paris,  including  a  tunnel  transit  under  Bering  strait. 

The  Tanana  Valley  railway  is  ballasted  with  three  feet  of 
moss,  which  does  not  prevent  the  road-bed  from  being  rough, 
in  places.  The  railway  gives  convenient  access  to  all  the  centres 
of  mining  activity.  On  the  afternoon  of  August  3  wre  went  to 
Chatanika,  proceeding  up  the  valley  of  Gold  Stream,  where 
men  have  dug  through  thirty  or  forty  feet  of  frozen  'muck' 
and  'wash'  to  the  bedrock  on  which  the  gold  lies.  The  course 
of  the  former  river-bed  is  marked  by  heaps  of  gravel,  shaft- 
houses,  and  flumes.  From  the  distribution  of  activity  it  can 
be  seen  how  the  gold-bearing  channel  traverses  the  present 
valley  but  follows  a  line  independent  of  the  topography  of 
today.  The  train  passes  close  to  some  of  the  diggings;  men  can 
be  seen  hoisting  buckets  of  'dirt'  with  a  windlass  and  dis- 
charging them  into  sluice-boxes,  where  a  flow  of  water  separ- 
ates the  gold  from  the  gravel.  The  valley  of  Gold  Stream  is 
wide  and  shallow,  a  depression  in  an  undulating  country,  cov- 
ered with  moss.  Several  lakes  diversify  the  morass,  through 
which  flows  a  meandering  stream,  with  no  more  dignity  than 
an  abandoned  and  overgrown  irrigation  ditch.  The  scenery 
is  not  impressive ;  it  is  oppressive ;  yet  as  the  train  laboriously 
puffs  its  way  up  a  ridge  giving  a  view  of  Vault  creek,  the  out- 
look becomes  more  cheerful.  The  white  tents  of  the  miners, 
and  the  big  brown  dumps  adjacent,  look  like  the  anthills  of  a 
larger  growth,  and  on  the  hillside  beyond  the  lines  of  birch- 
wood  cut  for  fuel  simulate  the  furrows  of  the  farmer,  sug- 
gesting cultivation  rather  than  devastation.  The  contours  are 
soft,  the  hills  are  velvety,  the  surface  is  dark  and  sodden,  the 
sky  is  gray,  and  man  and  his  doings  seem  but  an  insignificant 
irruption  in  this  vast  wilderness. 

As  it  was  only  6  p.m.  when  we  left  the  train  at  its  terminus 
in  the  village  of  Chatanika,  we  decided  to  walk  to  Cleary,  a 
distance  of  three  miles.  After  'supper'  a  traveling  show 
offered  amusement.  It  was  a  biograph  entertainment,  given  by 


270  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

a  man,  his  wife,  and  young:  daughter.  The  scenes  depicted  on 
the  screen  were  described  by  the  showman,  arousing  keen  in- 
terest among  the  miners  and  their  friends,  for  the  glimpses  of 
a  seaside  resort,  sail-boats,  hotels,  and  children  at  play  on  the 
beach  offered  pictures  of  a  life  wholly  different  to  the  business 
of  the  'creeks.'  At  the  door  of  the  hall,  instead  of  carriages 
awaiting  the  play-goers,  were  the  'huskies'  or  native  dogs, 
crouching  in  wait  for  their  masters. 

Next  day,  having  visited  three  different  mines  on  Cleary 
creek,  we  returned  down  the  valley  in  the  sunny  afternoon,  to 
Chatanika.  The  evening  smoke  is  enjoyed  while  sitting  on  a 
bench  in  front  of  the  hotel,  watching  the  manifestations  of 
local  activity.  Men  come  to  the  blacksmith  opposite  with 
'points'  that  need  repair  and  miners  gather  to  discuss  politics. 
Five  candidates  have  been  nominated  for  delegate  to  Congress 
and  five  newspapers  are  disseminating  misinformation  through- 
out the  Tanana  region.  These  papers  sell  for  25  cents  apiece 
and  they  represent  the  minimum  return  for  the  expenditure. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  Judge  Wickersham,  the  man  who  re- 
ceived the  least  support  from  the  local  press,  was  elected.  But 
the  pitiful  politics  of  the  day  are  easily  forgotten  while  watch- 
ing the  long  shadows  creep  over  the  hillsides  and  the  opal  tints 
of  the  long  Alaskan  twilight  wrap  the  hideousness  of  a  mining 
camp  in  a  glamor  of  mystical  beauty. 

On  our  return  by  train  to  Fairbanks,  the  passengers  in- 
cluded one  or  two  men  who  came  on  board  at  intermediate 
stations,  carrying  heavily  laden  common  sacks  which  they 
placed  to  one  side  casually.  Inside  these  was  a  leather  'poke' 
or  bag  containing  the  gold  'dust'  from  the  clean-up  of  the  day 
before. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
CLEARY  CREEK. 

On  Cleary  creek  the  traveler  may  see  examples  of  the  type 
of  mining  most  characteristic  of  Alaska.  The  method  is  called 
'drifting',  because  it  is  based  upon  the  driving  of  a  'drift'  or 
underground  gallery  from  the  bottom  of  a  shaft.  Under  the 
existing  surface  of  the  valley  lies  the  former  bed  of  the  creek, 
and  on  the  rock  over  which  the  water  used  to  run  now  lies  the 
gold ;  the  precious  metal  has  been  concentrated  by  reason  of 
its  greater  specific  gravity,  causing  it  to  sink  through  the 
debris  of  the  stream  to  the  bottom.  Later,  this  old  channel, 
with  its  gold-bearing  sediment,  has  been  covered  by  gravel  and 
by  'muck',  both  of  which,  being  wet,  have  been  frozen  solid. 
This  freezing  took  place  during  a  period  when  the  cold  of 
winter  exceeded  the  thawing  in  summer,  and,  by  reason  of  the 
subsequent  growth  of  an  insulating  covering  of  moss,  even  the 
warmer  climate  of  the  present  geological  epoch  is  unable  to 
melt  the  mass  of  material  that  lies  on  top  of  the  old  stream-bed. 
The  creek  now  flowing  in  the  valley  is  a  rivulet,  barren  of  gold, 
and  otherwise  of  no  consequence,  except  in  so  far  as  its  living 
water  has  thawed  the  ground  over  which  it  courses.  Therefore 
the  miner  avoids  sinking  his  shaft  along  the  present  stream; 
he  goes  to  one  side  and  penetrates  through  the  frozen  ground 
to  the  old  creek-bottom. 

It  will  be  best  to  illustrate  the  method  by  describing  a 
specific  mine,  for  instance,  the  one  known  as  No.  11  Below  Dis- 
covery on  Cleary.  The  shaft  is  7  feet  square,  and  is  70  feet 
deep;  in  order  to  get  a  well  for  collecting  the  drainage,  the 
shaft  is  sunk  8  or  10  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  bedrock. 
Then  a  'level'  or  'drift',  6  feet  wide  and  61/*  feet  hi^h.  is  run 


272  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

up-stream  along  the  top  of  the  bedrock  for  a  distance  of  200 
feet  to  the  boundary  of  the  claim.  This  main  'drift'  or  gang- 
way is  timbered  to  protect  the  miners  and  to  prevent  falling 
dirt  from  blocking  the  passage.  Having  completed  the  'drift', 
similar  galleries  are  run  at  right  angles  on  both  sides  to  the 
limit  of  the  gold-bearing  sediment,  in  this  case  240  to  300  feet 
wide.  Now  begins  the  excavation  of  the  deposit.  To  thaw  the 
frozen  gravel,  'steam  points'  are  used,  as  already  described  in 
connection  with  mining  at  Dawson.  The  'points'  are  first  fed 
with  hot  water  while  they  are  being  driven  into  the  ground,  and 
when  they  have  been  forced  to  their  full  length,  steam  is  turned 
on  for  24  to  30  hours.  This  is  the  'sweating'  period,  during 
which  the  ground  is  thawed  around  each  point  for  2  to  21/1>  feet. 
When  the  gravel  has  been  softened,  the  points  are  withdrawn 
and  the  miners  use  their  picks  to  break  the  material  so  that  it 
can  be  shoveled  into  wheelbarrows,  which  are  then  trundled 
to  the  shaft.  There  the  'dirt'  is  discharged  into  a  bucket, 
which  is  hoisted  by  a  steam-engine  to  the  surface,  for  washing 
in  sluice-boxes.  About  one  foot  deep  of  bedrock  and  6  to  7 
feet  of  overlying  gravel  are  removed  by  these  mining  opera- 
tions. The  excavation  of  the  top  of  the  bedrock  is  made  neces- 
sary by  the  fact  that  the  gold  has  sunk  into  the  cracks  and 
crevices  of  the  rock,  which,  however,  is  so  decomposed  usually 
as  to  be  soft  and  easy  to  dig. 

We  went  underground,  standing  erect  on  the  edge  of  the 
bucket  and  holding  the  steel  rope,  while  being  quickly  lowered 
to  the  bottom  of  the  shaft.  Lighting  the  candles  offered  by  the 
manager,  we  walked  along  the  boarded  way  over  which  the 
wheelbarrows  pass.  Being  warned  of  their  approach,  we  stepped 
to  one  side  with  our  backs  against  the  side  of  the  level,  while 
the  procession  of  six  men  trundling  wheelbarrows  proceeded 
toward  the  shaft.  Each  barrow  holds  15  cubic  feet  or  375 
pounds  of  gravel,  six  of  them  being  enough  to  fill  the  bucket. 
The  men  are  paid  $5  and  their  board,  which  is  worth  $3  more 
per  day,  so  that  each  laborer  costs  the  mine-owner  $8  per  day. 
Each  man  picks,  shovels,  and  wheels  his  own  share  of  the  out- 
put of  the  mine  at  a  pace  regulated  by  the  leader,  who  is  chosen 
by  the  manager.  Turning  to  one  side  we  entered  a  cross-drift 


CLEARY  CREEK. 


273 


communicating  with  a  low  cavernous  chamber  made  by  the 
removal  of  the  gravel  in  the  course  of  mining.  There  we  saw 
a  group  of  38  'points'  silently  at  work,  with  nothing  to  indicate 
the  process,  for  all  leaks  of  steam  are  carefully  prevented. 
Such  leakage  not  only  means  waste  of  energy  but  leads  to  heat- 
ing the  air  in  the  mine  and  the  consequent  thawing  of  the  roof 
of  the  workings.  Everything  is  in  a  frozen  condition.  The 
air  has  the  feel  of  a  cold-storage  chamber.  In  walking  through 
the  workings  one  hears  the  dropping  of  gravel  loosened  over- 


LOWER  CLEARY  CREEK   IX   1907. 

head  by  the  slight  warming  of  the  air  by  the  bodies  of  the 
miners  and  by  the  little  heat  given  out  by  the  steam-pipes. 
Occasionally  the  visitor  will  not  only  hear,  but  feel,  the  crum- 
bling of  the  over-arching  ground,  for  a  chunk  of  'dirt',  obedient 
to  the  immutable  law  of  gravity,  will  tap  him  on  the  shoulder. 
To  avoid  danger,  it  is  best  to  keep  close  to  the  frozen  sides  of 
the  excavation,  avoiding  a  position  under  an  overhanging 
stretch  of  gravel.  Returning  to  the  main  gangway,  we  crossed 
to  the  other  side  of  the  mine,  where  the  men  were  removing  the 
gravel  previously  softened  by  a  battery  of  steam-points  such  as 


274  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

we  had  seen  at  work.  No  time  was  being  wasted.  Nowhere 
have  I  seen  men  working  more  efficiently,  and  although  their 
wages  are  high,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  cost  of  living 
is  abnormal. 

By  examining  the  sediment  on  the  bedrock  it  is  possible  to 
see  the  yellow-red  particles  of  gold.  In  a  country  of  cheap 
pauperized  labor,  such  as  Mexico,  these  nuggets  would  be  pur- 
loined by  the  workers.  A  high  price  for  labor  and  supplies 
tends  to  depreciate  gold;  at  Fairbanks  a  nugget  weighing  half 
an  ounce  represents  only  one  day's  pay. 

The  mines  are  worked  mainly  by  lessees ;  fully  three  quar- 
ters of  the  gold  extracted  in  the  Fairbanks  district  is  taken  out 
of  the  ground  by  'lay-men',  who  pay  the  owners  of  the  claims 
a  royalty  of  25  to  50  per  cent  on  the  gross  output.  For  this 
rich  tribute  the  claim-holder  has  usually  done  nothing  beyond 
locating  the  ground  or  having  had  it  located  for  him.  This  is 
a  striking  example  of  the  unearned  increment  and  of  special 
privilege  under  a  democracy.  Of  the  hundreds  of  rich  owners 
in  the  district,  only  a  few  made  a  discovery  of  gold  themselves, 
and  only  a  few  ever  did  any  real  work  on  their  claims.  Many 
of  the  claims  were  located  under  'power  of  attorney',  and  in 
some  instances  by  abuse  of  this  privilege  a  few  men  have  been 
able  to  acquire  large  areas  of  profitable  ground.  A  miner  can 
go  up  a  creek  and  stake  for  himself  and  his  friends  as  many 
claims  as  he  likes,  provided  he  makes  a  discovery  on  each  20 
acre  claim ;  although,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  true  discovery  is 
rarely  made,  for  the  gold  is  thirty  or  forty  feet  underground, 
and  the  shaft  to  bedrock  is  not  sunk  until  many  days  after  the 
legal  routine  of  'location'  has  been  completed.  Moreover,  a 
man  can  stake  an  'association'  claim  of  160  acres,  using  the 
names  of  eight  men  and  making  only  one  supposititious  dis- 
covery. By  virtue  of  'power  of  attorney'  he  uses  any  names  he 
pleases,  the  fiction  involving  no  permission  or  legal  authority 
from  the  owner  of  the  name.  In  this  way  Alaska  has  been 
blanketed  with  claims  now  belonging  to  men  who  sit  back, 
letting  others  do  the  work  and  incur  the  risks  of  mining  while 
they  gather  a  rich  tribute. 

In  April  1907  there  was  a  strike  among  the  miners  in  the 


276  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Fairbanks  district,  and  in  the  spring  of  1908  this  strike  was 
resumed.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  it  was  nominally  in  force,  but 
the  back  of  it  was  broken.  After  visiting  the  mines,  seeing 
the  conditions  under  which  labor  is  performed,  noting  the  char- 
acter of  the  work,  and  the  system  of  ownership,  operation,  and 
exploitation,  I  found  myself  in  sympathy  writh  the  laboring  men. 
This  does  not  mean  any  sort  of  sympathy  with  the  ignorant 
politicians  who  led  them,  nor  the  reptile  press  that  incited 
them  to  reprisals.  If  one  judged  the  cause  by  its  advocates 
one  would  condemn  the  labor  movement  in  Alaska  in  short 
order,  but  in  justice  to  the  men  the  following  facts  must  be 
stated  :  The  cost  of  coming  to  the  mines  is  high  ;  thus,  by  winter 
trail  to  Fairbanks  from  Valdez,  376  miles,  the  fare  is  $150  and 
the  road-house  expenses  average  $6  to  $7  per  day  for  10  days. 
It  costs  $250  to  come  from  Seattle  or  San  Francisco.  While 
the  mine-owners  provide  board  and  bunk,  the  season  lasts  only 
4  to  5  months,  for  at  the  first  approach  of  winter  all  surface 
Avork  ceases  and  half  the  laboring  population  is  forced  into  idle- 
ness. The  work  in  the  drift  mines  is  exceedingly  hard;  a  man 
will  average  from  80  to  100  wheelbarrows,  equivalent  to  6  or  7 
cubic  yards,  per  day,  and  it  needs  an  engineer  to  appreciate 
what  that  means.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  it  represents  the  maxi- 
mum of  manual  labor.  Then  be  it  remembered  these  men  are 
working  for  owners  and  operators  of  their  own  kind  and  class; 
in  many  cases  nothing  separates  the  sturdy  miner  trundling  a 
heavily  loaded  wheelbarrow  from  the  idle  man  who  owns  the 
mine,  except  an  accident.  A  few  months  hence  the  positions 
of  the  two  men  may  be  reversed;  not  education,  not  ability,  not 
technical  knowledge,  distinguishes  the  owner  of  a  bonanza 
claim  from  his  employees — simply  chance  and  a  mining  law  of 
absurd  laxity.  Of  course,  $5  per  day,  with  $3  worth  of  board 
besides,  looks  large  wages,  but  it  is  only  $125  to  $150  per  month 
for  four  months,  and  from  it  must  be  deducted  $300  to  $500 
for  coming  and  going  to  the  States,  plus  incidental  expenses 
while  at  the  mines.  Here;  is  another  trouble;  the  miner  pays 
25  cents  for  a  glass  of  beer,  50  cents  for  a  magazine,  25  cents 
for  a  wretched  squib  of  a  daily  paper,  and  so  forth.  And  he 
needs  diversion:  a  man  under  laborious  exertion  for  10  hours 


CLEARY  CREEK.  277 

each  day  is  entitled  to  relax  and  to  rest,  both  mentally  and 
physically.  The  cure  for  the  abnormal  wages  is  cheaper  trans- 
port into  and  from  the  country,  less  profit  to  those  who  sit  down 
and  do  nothing,  and  a  resident  population. 

In  the  summer  of  1908  much  was  heard  concerning  'muck 
discoveries',  that  is,  a  discovery  based  on  the  finding  of  parti- 
cles of  gold  in  the  black  vegetable  matter  under  the  moss  and 


A  CLEAN-UP  ON  CLEARY   CREEK. 

above  the  gravel.  This  'muck'  covers  the  country  like  a  dirty 
blanket.  According  to  law,  a  valid  discovery  necessitates  the 
finding  of  mineral  in  place.  In  placer  mining  the  mineral  is 
native  gold,  therefore  the  dispute  involves  the  question  whether 
the  gold  particles  in  the  muck  are  part  of  the  deposit  which  the 
miner  is  seeking,  or  whether  it  is  an  accidental  occurrence  in 
no  wav  related  to  the  actual  gravel  deposit  underneath.  The 


278  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

prospectors  ridicule  a  'muck  discovery',  claiming  that  the  gold 
in  the  overburden  is  accidental  and  no  more  significant  than  if 
found  in  the  bark  of  a  neighboring  tree ;  indeed,  gold  has  been 
found  in  clear  ice.  The  lawyers  interpret  the  evidence  other- 
wise, claiming  that  any  gold  found  on  the  claim  is  adequate  to 
establish  a  proper  title.  Incidentally,  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
many  shrewd  prospectors  when  they  locate  a  claim  attach  a 
lawyer's  name,  as  well  as  their  own,  to  the  location  notice, 
arguing  that  it  is  cheaper  to  have  a  lawyer  for  a  partner  than 
to  hire  him  later.  The  cry  of  the  average  unlettered  miner  is 
like  that  of  the  French  at  the  outset  of  a  revolution:  "A  IMI*  les 
sacres  arocats."  Surprising  is  it  not;  it  is  not. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
ARCTIC  AGRICULTURE. 

On  August  10  we  left  Fairbanks  on  the  Tanana  and  went 
down  the  river  to  a  point  80  miles  above  Fort  Gibbon ;  disem- 
barking, we  boarded  a  small  steam-launch  that  took  us  7  miles 
eastward  up  a  slough  to  Manley 's  Hot  Springs.  This  is  a 
notable  resort.  A  hotel,  bath-house,  and  farm  have  been  estab- 
lished by  Frank  G.  Manley,  a  successful  miner,  who  co-operates 
in  the  management  of  the  property  with  J.  F.  Karshner.  This 
old  prospector,  formerly  a  farmer  in  Kansas,  discovered  a  hot 
spring  and  ascertained  that  the  ground  near  it  was  warmed 
enough  not  to  freeze  even  in  winter.  He  took  up  a  homestead 
of  320  acres,  and  in  the  spring  of  1903  made  a  clearing  for  a 
garden ;  then,  his  first  effort  being  surprisingly  successful,  he 
commenced  systematic  cultivation.  Later  Manley  established  a 
trading  post  on  the  homestead,  building  a  hotel  and  bath-house 
in  1907.  At  this  spot  there  stood  a  grove  of  evergreen  poplar, 
known  as  Balm  of  Gilead,  and  from  them  were  sawed  the  logs 
for  the  erection  of  the  roomy  hotel  building — a  sightly  struc- 
ture, as  the  accompanying  photograph  shows.  The  adjoining 
bath-house  contains  two  small  plunges  and  a  large  swimming 
pool.  The  water  has  a  temperature  ranging  from  115 °F.  in 
the  small  baths  to  100°  in  the  large  one.  The  springs  are  about 
a  hundred  yards  from  the  hotel,  and  from  them  the  water 
issuing  at  135°  is  piped  as  required.  On  the  adjacent  hill-slope 
the  ground  is  warmed  by  the  thermal  springs  so  as  to  afford 
abnormal  conditions  highly  favorable  to  agriculture.  It  is  a 
natural  hot-bed.  Snow  falling  on  the  warm  ground  thaws 
rapidly  so  that  the  surface  is  rarely  white  for  more  than  a 
couple  of  days.  At  the  most  the  surface-frost  penetrates  only 


280         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

to  a  depth  of  one  inch.  On  the  edge  of  the  warm  area,  young 
parsnips  have  been  dug  in  March  from  under  two  feet  of  snow. 
The  water  issuing  from  one  spring  will  fill  an  8-inch  pipe  and 
another  spring  higher  up  will  fill  a  3-inch  pipe.  A  pent-house 
has  been  made  by  cutting  into  the  side  of  the  hill,  where  the 
ground  is  heated  sufficiently  to  allow  poultry  to  live  in  com- 
fort throughout  the  winter.  Mr.  Manley  has  650  hens  and  50 
ducks,  8  cows  and  a  bull,  70  pigs,  and  25  horses.  To  appreciate 
what  this  signifies  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  farm  is  in 
latitude  65°  north.  Altogether,  62  acres  are  under  cultivation; 
of  these,  32  are  devoted  to  potatoes,  which  retail  at  121/1>  cents 
per  pound  at  Fairbanks.  Usually  the  yield  is  7  to  8  tons  per 
acre,  and  a  ton  of  potatoes  in  this  part  of  the  world  is  worth 
$250,  be  it  noted.  In  1908  the  lack  of  rain  injured  the  crop,  so 
that  the  yield  was  only  3  tons  per  acre.  Five  acres  are  given  to 
turnips,  lettuce,  cabbage,  and  carrots.  Fodder  is  obtained  from 
14  acres  of  oats,  barley,  and  wheat.  Near  the  springs  the 
ground  is  covered  with  wild  peas  and  bracken,  for  the  moss 
does  not  thrive  on  the  warm  land.  The  soil  is  a  sandy  loam  of 
light  chocolate  color,  derived  from  the  disintegration  of  granite. 

As  indicating  agricultural  possibilities  I  cite  the  experience 
of  J.  C.  Riley,  of  Tolovana,  who  planted  half  a  crate  of  potatoes 
in  1908  and  obtained  11  crates  therefrom;  in  1907  he  planted 
an  equal  amount  and  the  ground  yielded  him  16  crates  of  mar- 
ketable potatoes,  worth  12  to  15  cents  per  pound  or  $250  to 
$300  per  ton.  That  is  the  price  for  which  they  sold  at  Fair- 
banks. Last  season,  a  woman  living  at  Gilmore,  on  Gold 
Stream,  cleared  one  acre  and  sold  $3000  worth  of  potatoes 
from  it.  Apparently  there  is  no  excuse  for  failure  to  cultivate 
locally  at  a  profit,  but  the  fact  is  the  population  is  migratory 
and  extravagant,  and  also  intimidated  by  the  big  trading  com- 
panies, which  may  at  short  notice  spoil  the  local  market  for 
any  commodity.  Moreover,  the  indigenous  crop  is  uncertain, 
making  it  necessary  for  the  provident  to  order  their  staple 
food-supplies  from  the  'outside'  two  or  three  months  before 
the  opening  of  the  season. 

Hay  is  worth  $125  per  ton.  Native  red  top  sells  for  $80  to 
$100  per  ton.  Othor  necessaries,  such  as  cabbage,  turnips. 


ARCTIC  AGRICULTURE. 


281 


dairy  products,  eggs,  can  be  produced  locally  at  a  large  profit, 
if  grown  at  all,  for  the  freight  from  Seattle  and  San  Francisco 
represents  a  margin  big  enough  to  make  the  indigenous  article 
highly  remunerative. 

These  successful  attempts  at  cultivation  prompt  an  enquiry 
into  the  possibilities  of  agriculture  in  Alaska.  For  light  on 
the  subject  I  went  to  C.  C.  Georgeson,  Special  Agent  in  charge 
of  the  Alaska  Experiment  Stations,  and  to  him  I  owe  most  of 


MANLEY'S    HOTEL,    HOT    SPRINGS. 

the  information  that  follows.  Broadly  speaking,  any  kind  of 
hardy  vegetable  can  be  grown  even  as  far  north  as  the  Arctic 
Circle,  66°33'  north  latitude.  During  the  summer  season, 
which  varies  from  3  months  at  Rampart  to  6  months  at  Sitka. 
fodder  is  obtainable  from  a  luxuriant  growth  of  native  grasses, 
timothy,  and  oats.  It  is  true,  on  the  coast  there  is  trouble  in 
making  hay  on  account  of  rains  at  the  gathering  period,  espe- 
cially at  Sitka,  where  the  annual  precipitation  is  8  feet.  'In- 
side,' within  the  vast  interior  of  the  country,  the  light  precipi- 


282  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

tation  may  necessitate  the  aid  of  irrigation;  thus  in  the  Cop- 
per Kiver  valley  the  precipitation  is  only  91/2  inches  annually, 
and  the  lack  of  water  is  a  drawback.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
ground  of  interior  Alaska  is  frozen  to  a  depth  of  200  feet,  and 
it  is  found  that  the  subsoil  ice  actually  assists  cultivation  in 
summer  because  as  the  thaw  proceeds  the  moisture  rises  by  cap- 
illarity to  the  roots  of  plants.  The  most  northern  experiment 
station,  at  Kampart,  in  Lat.  65°40',  was  begun  in  1900.  On  a 
tract  of  6l/2  acres,  it  has  been  found  possible  to  mature  barley 
and  oats  from  year  to  year.  In  addition,  winter  rye,  winter 
wheat,  spring  rye,  spring  wheat,  and  buckwheat  have  come  to 
maturity  in  three  years  out  of  four.  There  are  now  16  acres 
under  cultivation  at  this  station.  At  Kampart,  and  elsewhere 
in  the  Yukon,  the  settlers  have  grown  vegetables  with  unquali- 
fied success.  Potatoes  always  do  well,  and  they  are  doing  bet- 
ter as  potatoes  grown  in  Alaska  are  used  for  seeding.  It  is  a 
fact  that  this  staple  tuber  has  been  grown  60  miles  north  of 
the  Arctic  Circle ;  that  is  as  far  as  any  pioneer  gardener  has 
yet  ventured.  Cabbages  also,  with  cauliflower,  peas,  turnips, 
radishes,  lettuce,  carrots,  parsnips,  parsley,  beets,  onions, 
squash,  and  rhubarb,  all  flourish  during  the  short  warm  sum- 
mer. In  the  more  favored  regions,  such  as  the  Tanana,  it  has 
been  found  that  beans,  celery,  cucumbers,  and  salsify  will 
grow  well;  even  cucumbers,  musk  melons,  squash,  and  water 
melons  have  matured  outdoors  at  the  Hot  Springs  farm.  For- 
age crops  for  livestock  can  be  cultivated  successfully.  Timothy 
springs  up  as  a  volunteer  crop  along  every  trail  where  hay  has 
been  carried.  In  many  localities  the  nutritious  grasses  native 
to  the  country  cover  large  areas  with  lush  growth,  affording 
rich  pasturage.  At  Rampart  the  horses  employed  at  the  experi- 
ment station  are  fed  on  native  hay  in  winter.  Emphasis  must 
be  placed  on  the  fact  that  the  seeds  from  which  crops  have  been 
obtained  heretofore  in  Alaska  are  of  southern  origin,  that  is, 
from  a  latitude  fully  20°  farther  south  :  in  consequence,  the 
plants  have  not  been  adapted  to  the  climatic  conditions  of 
Alaska,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  expect  better  results  from 
northern  seed.  For  this  purpose  the  experiment  stations  are 
well  fitted,  and  it  is  likely  that  they  will  do  useful  service  in 


VEGETABLES  GROWN  AT  LATITUDE   64°51'   NORTH. 


284  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

the  development  of  varieties  suited  to  the  new  environment. 
This  beneficent  work  has  been  well  started,  but  it  is  hampered 
by  the  need  of  funds.  The  first  appropriation  voted  by  Con- 
gress was  only  $10,000,  and  although  the  sum  was  increased 
to  $15,000,  it  has  barely  sufficed  to  start  and  equip  the  five 
experiment  stations  at  Eampart,  Fairbanks,  Copper  River, 
Kodiak,  and  Sitka.  The  Kodiak  station,  which  is  newly  estab- 
lished, is  devoted  to  the  breeding  of  livestock,  and  to  this  end 
has  been  provided  with  well  bred  Galloway  cattle.  These  run 
free  all  winter  and  are  fed  only  when  the  snow  covers  the 
ground,  and  then  on  native  hay.  Another  station  has  been  in 
operation  at  Kenai,  on  Cook  Inlet,  for  nine  years.  It  was 
demonstrated  that  grain  would  not  mature  in  that  climate ;  but 
on  the  other  hand,  that  live  stock  could  be  kept  successfully. 
A  dairy  was  operated  on  the  station  and  first-class  butter  and 
cheese  is  made  from  the  milk  of  cows  fed  exclusively  on  native 
grown  fodder.  The  station  is  now  closed  and  the  stock  trans- 
ferred to  Kodiak  station.  Sitka  station,  which  is  also  head- 
quarters for  the  agricultural  investigations,  is  devoted  to  ex- 
periments in  horticulture,  while  the  interior  stations  above 
mentioned  are  reserved  chiefly  for  the  culture  and  breeding  of 
grains. 

Back  from  the  coast  the  soils  are  commonly  of  a  light  loamy 
character  in  the  valleys,  becoming  gravelly  and  thin  on  the 
higher  ground.  The  river  bottoms  also  afford  extensive  areas 
containing  a  mixture  of  silt  and  fine  sand,  which  is  exceedingly 
fertile.  These  are  overgrown  with  willows  stretching  back  to 
the  universal  wall  of  the  spruce  forests.  The  soils  of  the  inte- 
rior are  entirely  free  from  'sourness',  which  affects  much  of  the 
coast  land.  Thus  no  lime  is  needed. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  interior  of  Alaska  contains  90.000 
square  miles  available  for  pasturage  and  agriculture ;  this  area 
is  nearly  equal  to  the  two  States  of  New  York  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. In  1900  New  York  had  a  population  of  152  persons  per 
square  mile  and  Pennsylvania  had  140.  Of  the  whole  of  Alaska 
only  one  sixth  is  deemed  fit  for  cultivation,  and  it  is  reasonable 
to  hope  that  this  favored  portion  of  the  country  will  eventually 
support  25  persons  per  square  mile,  this  being  the  average 


ARCTIC  AGRICULTURE. 


285 


density  of  population  in  the  United  States  (exclusive  of  Hawaii 
and  Alaska)  in  1900,  even  including  the  deserts,  mountains, 
and  forests  now  uninhabited.  If  interior  Alaska  could  yield 
products  sufficient  to  support  25  persons  per  square  mile,  the 
population  could  rise  safely  to  2,250.000.  Now  it  is  about 
20,000. 

For  a  parallel  we  can  go  to  Finland,  which  is  bounded  on 
the  south  by  latitude  60°  and  on  the  north  by  latitude  70°. 
Finland  has  an  area  of  148,000  square  miles,  or  about  one 
quarter  of  Alaska.  Of  Finland,  one  third  is  lake  and  marsh 


MANLEY'S   HOT    SPRINGS. 


land,  another  third  is  covered  with  forest,  leaving  only  about 
50,000  square  miles  available  for  agriculture.  Yet  this  country 
in  northern  Europe  supports  a  population  of  3,000,000,  or  60 
persons  per  sqiiare  mile  utilized  for  cultivation.  Why  should 
Alaska  be  less  productive?  Temperature  is  a  controlling  factor. 
From  this  standpoint,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  at  Helsing- 
fors,  the  southernmost  point  in  Finland,  the  average  annual 
temperature  is  38.7°F. ;  at  Sitka,  it  is  43.3°.  In  northern  Fin- 
land the  average  annual  temperature  is  27.05°F. ;  at  Rampart, 
it  is  27.50°.  Finland  exports  butter,  beef,  bacon,  and  even  grain, 
chiefly  oats.  There  is  hope  for  Alaskan  agriculture.  If  it  has 


286 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


made  but  little  progress  as  yet,  the  failure  is  due  largely  to  the 
greater  attractiveness  of  the  Canadian  Northwest,  and  to  the 
great  expense  of  transport  to,  and  in,  Alaska.  So  far  the 
farming  in  Alaska  has  been  done  by  disappointed  prospectors 
and  diggers  who  seize  the  opportunity  of  making  a  little  money 
by  growing  garden  truck  for  the  mining  camps. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
ON  THE  LOWER  YUKON. 

We  spent  a  week  at  Hot  Springs,  five  days  more  than 
planned,  for  the  movements  of  the  river  steamers  are  irregular 
and  the  agents  of  the  Northern  Commercial  Co.  inform  travel- 
ers that  the  receipts  from  passenger  traffic  are  of  no  conse- 
quence compared  to  the  freightage  of  supplies.  Yet,  on  the 
Sarah  there  were  108  first-class  passengers,  67  second-class,  and 
100  deck  passengers.  The  larger  steamers,  or  'packets,'  carry 
an  average  of  100  passengers  at  $80  and  push  two  barges  loaded 
with  1000  to  1500  tons,  the  freightage  on  which  is  $75  per  ton, 
from  Seattle  or  San  Francisco  to  Dawson  or  Fairbanks,  and  of 
the  $75  only  $10  is  the  cost  of  ocean  transport  to  St.  Michael. 
Thus  receipts  of  $75,000  to  $90,000  per  trip  are  indicated.  As 
against  this,  the  expenses  of  a  'packet'  for  the  entire  summer 
season  are  $70,000,  or  $800  per  day.  Apparently  there  is  a 
margin  for  big  profits  and  no  adequate  excuse  for  the  high 
cost  of  transport,  which  is  today  one  of  the  principal  obstacles 
to  the  settlement  of  the  interior  portion  of  Alaska.  The  fact 
is  the  N.  A.  T.  and  N.  C.  companies,  as  the  two  chief  trading 
concerns  are  popularly  called,  control  the  sale  and  transport 
of  the  necessaries  of  life  throughout  the  interior;  by  combining 
and  by  driving  out  competitors  they  are  able  to  prevent  inter- 
ference with  their  control.  At  Nome,  2700  miles  from  Seattle 
or  San  Francisco,  prices  are  but  little  higher  than  in  the  two 
commercial  centres  of  the  Coast,  but  at  Fairbanks  and  Daw- 
son,  owing  to  control  of  the  river  traffic,  everything  is  pre- 
posterously high  in  price.  From  Nome  to  Fairbanks  the  dis- 
tance is  only  1150  miles  or  less  than  half  that  to  San  Francisco, 
and  while  allowance  must  be  made  for  steaming  against  the 


288  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

river  current,  the  main  reason  for  higher  freight  rates  is  the 
fact  of  a  monopoly  shared  by  the  two  trading  companies.  St. 
Michael  is  a  military  reservation  and  no  warehouses  can  be 
maintained  there  without  permission  of  the  War  Department ; 
in  consequence,  the  right  is  denied  to  any  but  the  two  trading 
companies  mentioned.  As  an  example  of  the  spirit  shown  by 
these  concerns,  I  cite  the  following  true  story:  In  1897  L.  R. 
Fulda,  going  up  the  Yukon  to  start  work  for  the  Alaska  Ex- 
ploration Co.  arrived  at  St.  Michael  just  as  the  last  boat  for  the 
season  was  going  to  Dawson.  It  was  a  N.  A.  T.  steamer  and 
J.  J.  Healy  of  that  company  instructed  the  captain  not  to  give 
Fulda  a  passage,  for  he  guessed  his  purpose.  Thereupon  Fulda 
changed  clothes  with  a  longshoreman  and  applied  to  the  mate 
for  work ;  being  athletic  and  willing,  he  did  well.  Finally  he 
signed  ship's  articles  and  shipped  as  a  deck-hand.  The  steamer 
started.  Healy  was  on  board;  recognizing  Fulda,  he  told  the 
captain  to  put  Fulda  ashore  at  the  next  landing ;  the  captain 
gave  the  order  to  the  mate,  but  the  latter  objected  because 
Fulda  was  a  good  worker  and  could  carry  more  wood  than 
any  other  deck-hand,  besides  he  had  signed  articles  and  thus 
possessed  a  valid  contract.  In  this  way  Fulda  reached  Daw- 
son.  Within  twelve  months  he  had  charge  of  a  big  river  busi- 
ness, including  7  or  8  steamboats  and  15  barges:  he  controlled 
transportation  and  trade  amounting  to  $1,000.000  per  annum. 
"He  got  there."  The  story  exemplifies  the  persistence  of  an 
energetic  man  and  the  lawless  spirit  of  a  dominant  corporation. 
It  is  a  legacy  from  the  days  of  the  Russian  American  Co.  and 
the  Hudson 's  Bay  Co. ;  it  is  an  anachronism  in  a  civilized 
democracy.  The  administration  of  the  X.  A.  T.  and  N.  C.  com- 
panies needs  to  be  investigated  and  disciplined,  not  without 
recognition  of  the  skill  and  resource  exhibited  by  their  agents 
in  the  early  development  of  the  region,  but  with  an  eye  upon 
their  relations  to  United  States  senators. 

While  the  above  was  being  written  we  were  on  the  Schtralka 
moving  swiftly  down  the  Tanana  toward  Fort  Gibbon,  where 
connection  is  to  be  made  with  the  packet  Sarah.  The  little 
Schwafka  was  crowded.  Many  'sporting  ladies'  were  aboard 
and  they  were  noisy  as  usual.  We  slept  in  bod  linen  smelling 


ON  THE  LOWER  YUKON.  28!) 

of  stale  food,  for  the  sheets  had  been  rescued  from  among  the 
soiled  table-cloths  with  which  they  had  been  heaped  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  'wash.'  This  is  one  of  the  imperfections  of  travel 
on  the  Yukon.  While  unwilling  to  make  a  futile  protest  and 
observant  of  the  kind  of  passenger  traffic  for  which  the  boats 
are  mainly  intended,  I  could  not  but  regret  that  the  intrepid 
geographer  Frederick  Schwatka  should  be  commemorated  on 
the  noble  river  of  his  exploration  by  nothing  better  than  a 
miserable  little  steamer  with  a  stern-paddle  and  dirty  linen. 
But  that  reminds  me  that  I  ran  across  a  more  pleasant  re- 


STEAMERS   AT    FORT   GIKBOX. 

minder  of  Schwatka:  in  the  pilot-house  of  the  Lavelle  Yoniuj 
there  was  a  blue  print  from  Schwatka 's  original  map  of  the 
Yukon.  Capt.  Boerner  informed  me  that  he  found  it  useful 
for  reference.  Although  a  rough  bit  of  surveying,  the  map  is 
wonderfully  correct;  it  shows  Schwatka 's  camps  and  his  daily 
runs.  Howrever,  we  were  soon  transferred  to  another  boat. 
Arriving  that  night  at  Tanana,  AVC  were  awakened  next  morn- 
ing by  the  cheerful  bugles  of  the  fort.  A  stroll  through  the 
town  or,  more  accurately,  along  the  single  street  facing  the 
river,  yielded  many  interesting  sights,  although  we  confess  to 
having  missed  ''the  streets  of  tropic  bloom"  described  by  a 


290  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

recent  writer,  just  as  we  had  made  no  acquaintance  either  with 
the  ''metropolitan  style"  of  Fairbanks  or  "the  luxurious 
steamers"  that  ply  thither.  Travelers'  tales  are  often  made 
sweet  with  rhetorical  confectionery.  Alaska  does  not  need 
such  literary  treatment,  for  there  is  enough  of  interest  without 
exaggerating. 

At  the  Army  post  we  inspected  the  dog-kennels,  occupied 
by  wolfish  malamutes,  muscular  huskies,  and  'outside'  dogs  of 
all  sorts.  The  malamute  is  the  Eskimo  dog  and  is  named  from 
a  tribe  on  the  lower  Yukon,  while  the  'husky'  came  from  the 
Mackenzie  river.  They  are  of  ordinary  size,  but  stocky  in 
shape,  sturdy,  and  muscular,  well  protected  from  the  cold  by 
thick  woolly  hair.  Summer  is  hard  on  these  long-haired  beasts, 
they  lie  on  bare  ground  to  receive  the  cold  of  the  underlying 
ice  or  else  find  a  place  under  the  bank  where  the  overhanging 
moss  gives  shelter  from  the  sun.  On  warm  days  the  dogs  lie 
panting  in  the  shade  and  only  at  evening  do  they  bestir  them- 
selves, or  when  a  steamboat  arrives.  As  soon  as  the  whistle  is 
sounded  they  make  for  the  landing,  eager  for  the  scraps  of  food 
thro\vn  ashore  by  the  stewards  and  cooks.  The  dogs  do  not 
howl  at  the  regular  town  whistles,  but  the  salute  of  an  in- 
coming steamboat  or  any  unfamiliar  spectacle,  such  as  a  fire, 
will  cause  them  to  set  up  a  melancholy  chorus.  At  intervals, 
and  unaccountably,  the  quiet  night  air  of  a  town,  like  Dawson. 
will  be  rent  by  a  sudden  outburst  of  howls  from  the  uneasy 
malamutes  and  huskies,  who  will  subside  into  slumberous 
silence  after  two  or  three  minutes.  The  reason  is  no  more 
obvious  than  the  sudden  stampeding  of  cattle  or  the  crowing 
of  cocks  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  although  the  nocturnal 
concerts  of  the  native  dogs  have  some  resemblance  to  the  weird 
howling  of  the  coyotes  at  dawn. 

The  malamute  knows  not  how  to  bark,  he  can  only  howl. 
The  following  story  is  apropos:  At  Nome  in  the  spring  of  1899 
a  setter  had  a  litter  of  five  pups,  the  father  of  whom  was  ob- 
viously a  malamute.  The  mother  dog  was  proud  of  her  family 
and  used  to  bring  them  into  the  Ames  Mercantile  Co's  store. 
One  day,  when  the  pups  were  big  enough  to  run  about,  she  dis- 
covered that  they  howled,  but  could  not  bark;  this  evidently 


ON  THE  LOWER  YUKOX.  291 

disgusted  her.  Soon  afterward  she  was  seen  with  her  five  pups 
in  line  on  the  beach  teaching  them  to  bark  :  she  barked  and 
then  looked  at  them  as  if  giving  them  a  kindergarten  lesson. 
Many  persons  saw  this  performance  and  noted  the  progress 
of  the  experiment.  Finally,  one  pup  did  actually  bark,  much  to 
the  delight  of  the  mother,  as  she  indicated  by  wagging  her  tail 
and  jumping  about.  Soon  all  the  pups  learned  to  bark  like 
civilized  dogs. 

But  the  malamute  is  a  savage  and  is  devoid  of  those  in- 
stincts of  faithfulness  that  make  the  dog  a  friend  of  man, 
although  Jack  London  can  spin  fanciful  yarns  about  him.  Here 
is  a  true  story,  to  offset  London's  tales.  An  'outside'  dog  had 


MAL.AMUTES   IX   CHORUS. 

seven  pups,  of  malamute  breed ;  one  day  the  mother  got  her 
paw  into  a  hole  between  the  logs  and  howled  in  pain;  her  pups 
attacked  her,  killed  her,  and  tore  her  to  pieces  before  an 
observer  could  drive  them  off.  In  summer  the  dogs  become  bad 
tempered,  fight  among  themselves,  and  attack  children.  While 
at  Nome,  I  saw  a  crowd  gathered  around  a  dog  held  by  a  police- 
man. Bystanders  informed  me  that  the  dog  had  snapped  at  an 
Eskimo  child,  and  when  the  testimony  was  clear  the  policeman 
hauled  the  dog  by  the  scruff  of  the  neck  to  the  beach  and  shot 
him.  The  malamute 's  only  motto  is  ' '  Woe  to  the  vanquished : ' ' 
if  one  of  his  brothers  goes  down  in  a  fight,  or  accident,  the 
others  all  jump  on  him  at  once.  This  is  what  makes  it  danger- 


992  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

ons  for  children  to  play  with  them,  for  they  will  jump  on  a 
child  that  stumbles.  In  the  summer  of  1907  a  boy  eleven  years 
old  was  carrying  a  dinner  pail  to  his  father,  who  was  at  work 
at  a  mine  on  the  tundra  a  short  distance  from  the  town  of 
Nome.  The  boy  was  accompanied  by  four  dogs;  he  happened 
to  stumble,  and  fell ;  thereupon  the  dogs  pounced  upon  him  and 
rent  him.  Again,  the  inference  is  that  the  malamute  is  an 
utterly  unredeemed  savage ;  he  is  to  the  dog  tribe  what  his 
master,  the  Eskimo,  is  to  the  human  species. 

Enough  of  dogs;  let  us  proceed  along  the  river  bank  and 
see  the  camp  of  the  prospectors  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town. 
A  dozen  tents  are  occupied  by  men  awaiting  a  chance  to  go  up 
the  Innoko,  the  Kantishna,  or  Sullivan  creek — these  being  the 
latest  'stampedes.'  Looking  at  these  adventurous  men.  not 
particularly  robust  in  appearance  nor  particularly  cheerful,  the 
idea  comes  that  their  lot  is  not  to  be  envied,  that  their  life  is 
an  exile  and  their  existence  barren  of  comfort :  and  yet  they 
would  not  thank  you  for  sympathy.  They  do  not  need  it.  To 
these  hardy  explorers  the  life  of  the  nomad  is  attractive  and 
the  lure  of  the  'creek'  an  excitement  that  is  constantly  re- 
newed ;  the  reward  of  gold  is  sufficient  to  them,  for  with  it 
they  buy  all  the  creature  comforts  for  which  they  care — cigars, 
whisky,  wromen.  A  rich  gravel  claim  going  $2  to  $-4  per  square 
foot  30  feet  deep  in  frozen  ground  is  as  good  as  a  potato  patch 
ready  to  be  gathered  and  marketed  among  hungry  men. 
l"(']i«cun  a  son  (/out  et  le  marcliaiid  rnid  tout."  The  rush  for 
gold  on  the  creeks  is  no  more  ignoble  than  the  similar  scramble 
every  day  on  State  Street  or  Wall  Street :  the  pick  is  as  fine 
an  instrument  as  the  ticker,  and  the  steam-point  is  as  useful 
as  the  tape. 

Hut  these  thoughts  drop  into  oblivion  as  the  day  wanes  and 
the  panoply  of  the  sunset  is  spread  athwart  the  gateway  of  the 
West.  The  blue  vault  of  the  upper  sky  merges  through  emerald 
tints  into  the  golden  splendor  of  clouds  radiant  with  the  glint 
of  the  sinking  sun.  Flat  masses  of  blue-gray  mist  float  sil- 
houetted against  the  fading  brightness,  which  illumines  the 
rolling  contours  of  the  wilderness,  now  purple  in  the  twilight. 
The  great  river  sweeps  around  a  headland  :  far  away,  faint  but 


ON  THE  LOWER  YUKON.  293 

clear,  is  a  mountain  range  parting  the  beauty  of  the  earth  and 
sky.  Soon  the  last  rays  of  the  sun  are  quenched  and  a  dream- 
ing radiance  robes  the  vast  Northland  in  light  that  never  be- 
fore was  on  land  or  sea. 

Next  day  we  waited  for  the  Sarah,  but  she  was  delayed. 
Late  at  night  she  came  in  sight,  and  on  arrival  we  were  trans- 
ferred, expecting  more  comfortable  quarters,  for  was  not  this 
one  of  the  "big  packets,"  of  which  the  agent  at  Dawson  had 
spoken  rapturously.  On  arrival  the  Sarah's  whistle  caused  all 
the  dogs  in  town  to  set  up  a  melancholy  howl,  and  on  recalling 
my  journey  on  the  Sarah,  her  accommodations,  her  service,  and 
her  food,  I  fain  would  imitate  those  malamutes  as  the  only  way 
of  expressing  my  feelings. 

However,  the  Sarah  finally  got  away  on  the  day  after  her 
arrival  at  Tanana  and  the  last  stage  of  our  journey  on  the 
Yukon  was  begun.  The  river  swept  through  a  flood  plain 
bounded  by  wooded  hills.  On  the  banks  the  effect  of  the  ice  is 
seen  in  the  removal  of  evergreens,  such  as  spruce,  causing  a 
fringe  of  willow  to  stand  between  the  river  and  the  forest. 
Former  sloughs  are  indicated  by  a  young  growth  of  willows 
or  a  glade  of  waving  grass.  Clear  streams  enter  the  muddy 
main  river  and  force  a  contrast. 

At  Nulato  we  touch  the  page  of  history,  for  this  is  an  old 
trading  post.  The  present  settlement  consists  of  a  telegraph 
station  and  two  stores,  a  number  of  Indian  shacks,  the  resi- 
dences of  a  U.  S.  Government  doctor  and  a  Russian  priest, 
with  a  log  church,  ornamented  in  the  tawdry  style  calculated 
to  impress  an  Eskimo.  The  buildings  are  sufficiently  weather- 
beaten  to  appear  ancient,  but  they  are  all  recent.  The  old  set- 
tlement was  a  quarter  of  a  mile  below  the  present  village,  the 
site  of  it  being  now  marked  by  a  clearing  covered  with  brown 
grass  in  which  will  be  found  15  holes,  indicating  the  'dug-outs' 
or  igloos  of  the  former  Russian  camp.  All  vestiges  of  the  old 
Nulato  are  gone  save  four  graves,  in  which  lie  three  Russian 
traders  and  an  English  officer. 

Originally  known  as  Fort  Derabin,  from  its  founder,  a  Rus- 
sian, it  was  a  post  of  the  Russian  American  Company  in  1841, 
having  been  rebuilt  on  the  site  of  a  trading  station  established 


294         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

by  Malakhoff,  a  Russian  Creole,  in  1838.  Mention  has  been  made 
of  the  ascent  of  the  Yukon  by  Lieut.  Zagoskin,  of  the  Russian 
navy,  who  came  to  Nulato  in  1842.  For  ten  years  this  lone- 
some little  outpost  served  as  a  mart  for  the  furs  brought  in 
from  the  surrounding  country  by  the  Indians.  In  1851  Lieut. 
Barnard,  of  the  English  ship  Enterprise,  arrived  in  search  of 
Sir  John  Franklin.  Making  a  remark  that  was  misunderstood, 
Barnard  angered  one  of  the  Indian  chiefs.  A  sudden  attack 
was  made  on  the  post  and  all  the  inmates  except  one  young 
man  and  two  or  three  children  were  massacred.  Barnard  and 
Derabin  lie  in  their  abandoned  graves,  within  a  stone's  throw 
of  the  stockaded  fort  that  in  1859  replaced  the  former  log- 
houses.  The  natives  who  died  in  the  massacre  were  buried  in 
the  holes  where  the  Indian  houses  used  to  stand.  The  graves 
and  the  holes  are  all  that  survive,  and  over  them  the  rank 
grass  has  spread  an  obliterating  mantle.  Abandoned  houses 
do  not  last  long  in  Alaska ;  they  are  too  valuable  for  firewood. 

Just  above  the  present  village  of  Nulato  a  cluster  of  multi- 
colored Indian  graves  decorates  the  crest  of  a  ridge  overlook- 
ing the  river.  In  their  red,  white,  blue,  and  green  these  look 
like  doll's  houses,  inside  of  them  food  is  placed,  and  along- 
side stand  crosses,  brilliantly  tinted  also.  In  their  gaudy 
atrocity  they  serve  as  landmarks  to  those  who  travel  on  the 
river.  A  mile  below  another  group  of  graves  and  caches  marks 
the  site  of  the  reindeer  village  belonging  to  the  II.  S.  Govern- 
ment, but  now  in  charge  of  the  mission.  In  summer  the  rein- 
deer are  herded  at  Holy  Cross,  but  in  winter  they  are  brought 
to  Nulato  under  the  charge  of  Dr.  Norton.  There  are  10,000 
reindeer  in  Alaska.  About  28  miles  up  the  river  is  the  mouth 
of  the  Koyukuk  and  a  village  of  the  same  name  is  near-by. 
Good  news  of  the  gold  diggings  has  been  received,  but  the 
prospectors  are  said  to  be  short  of  provisions. 

Those  were  long  days  on  the  lordly  Yukon ;  I  have  a  vivid 
memory  of  the  minor  happenings  that  were  repeated  continu- 
ally during  the  voyage.  The  regular  deep  breathing  of  the 
engine  as  the  steam  issued  from  the  exhaust;  at  intervals  the 
rattle  of  the  cable  of  the  steering  gear,  when  the  pilot  turned 
the  boat  in  the  sinuous  channel ;  at  the  end  of  everv  half-hour 


ON  THE  LOWER  YUKON. 


295 


an  explosive  rush  of  steam  as  the  mud  was  washed  out  of  the 
boiler;  the  desultory  talk  of  passengers;  the  fragrance  of  a 
briar  pipe;  a  low  shore  and  a  silent  land;  the  scrubby  forest 
of  spruce  and  the  distant  ridge  of  hills;  a  high  bank  under- 
mined by  the  current,  with  trees  lying  prone  on  the  river's 
edge;  a  white  tent  and  a  fish-wheel;  the  splendid  splash  of 
pink  flowers  in  the  middle  distance  and  the  dark  cloud  of  a 
forest  fire  far  away;  sun  and  air,  vivid  and  vivifying;  rapid 
and  continuous  movement  into  a  vast  wilderness;  a  feeling  of 
mental  and  physical  alertness,  with  a  preparedness  for  any- 


NULATO. 

thing  that  might  happen ;  and  through  it  all  the  strong  regular 
respiration  of  the  tireless  engines  that  were  conquering  the 
successive  miles  of  travel. 

Approaching  Kaltag  we  passed  two  Indians,  a  man  and  a 
woman  in  a  boat;  they  were  'poling'  and  their  progress  was 
further  aided  by  two  dogs  that  towed  the  boat  laboriously 
against  the  stream.  A  little  farther  we  met  another  party 
traveling  in  the  same  manner.  On  the  left  bank  a  group  of 
tents  marked  a  fishing  camp,  as  we  could  also  tell  from  the  red 
patches  of  salmon  hung  on  frames  preparatory  to  being  smoked. 


996         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Then  to  the  right  on  a  high  bank  we  saw  three  or  four  build- 
ings, one  of  which  was  the  station  of  Kaltag,  an  important 
point  in  the  telegraph  service.  The  Sarah  blew  her  whistle, 
and  before  the  echoes  had  died  a  long-drawn  melancholy  howl, 
as  of  lost  souls  in  the  pit  of  torment,  came  from  the  shore.  It 
was  the  malamute  dogs. 

At  Kaltag  the  Yukon  makes  a  big  bend  southward,  so  that 
while  it  is  570  miles  by  water  to  St.  Michael  it  is  only  90  miles 
across  country  to  tide-water.  It  has  been  suggested  that  a  rail- 
road across  this  low  portage  would  effect  the  crossing  in  one 
day  easily,  and  thus  save  two  days,  at  least,  for  the  boats  are 
often  delayed  by  storms  and  by  going  aground  on  the  bar  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Yukon.  The  telegraph  line  runs  straight 
from  Kaltag  to  Unalaklik,  on  Norton  Sound,  a  distance  of  only 
90  miles.  The  stakes  set  in  1867  by  the  expedition  of  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  are  still  visible  and  at 
the  seaward  end  of  the  portage,  4  miles  north  of  Unalaklik, 
the  ruins  of  a  station  survive,  together  with  a  few  poles  and 
some  wire. 

Anvik,  the  trading  post  for  the  Innoko,  was  passed  in  the 
night,  so  we  missed  meeting  Max  Simel,  a  squaw-man  and  a 
notable  trader  in  these  parts.  His  chief  rival  was  Lon  Cooper, 
who  bought  fish  from  the  Indians  on  the  basis  of  30  for  a  dollar, 
the  regular  price  being  20  for  a  dollar.  Simel  held  back  until 
the  end  of  the  season  and  then  offered  to  buy  at  20  fish  for  a 
dollar,  much  to  the  discomfiture  of  Cooper,  for,  of  course,  the 
Indians  responded  quickly.  All  payments  were  made  not  in 
coin  but  in  staples,  chiefly  tea.  So,  Simel,  in  paying,  measured 
a  half-pound  of  tea,  instead  of  a  pound,  whereupon  the  Indian 
demurred  to  the  smallness  of  the  package ;  but  Stimel  explained 
that  it  was  a  'fish-dollar.'  lie  worked  the  same  game  when 
selling  reindeer  skins :  Cooper  took  two  martens  for  one  rein- 
deer, while  Simel  asked  three  martens  for  his  reindeer-dollar. 
Thus  a  new  application  of  the  trade  dollar  was  successfully 
made  and  Jerusalem  was  justified  of  her  children. 

At  Holy  Cross  a  Russian  mission  lingers  and  the  tawdry 
church  and  chapel  of  the  Greek  church  dominate  a  neat  little 
settlement,  the  cleanliness  of  which  is  in  strong  contrast  to  the 


298         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Indian  fishing  villages.  A  black-robed  half-breed  priest,  with 
long  black  hair,  a  black  smock,  and  a  bowler  or  derby  hat, 
came  aboard — a  curious  anachronism  and  a  depressing  object. 

Below  Holy  Cross  the  Yukon  emerges  into  the  flats  of  the 
delta,  Avhich  reaches  inland  for  60  miles.  Here  navigation  is 
impeded  by  silting  of  the  channels,  for  the  river  has  many  out- 
lets meandering  through  marshes  and  islands,  so  that  its  flood 
is  abated  and  spread  over  a  large  area,  causing  shallow  water. 
During  our  journey  we  had  seen  how  the  banks  are  under- 
mined and  the  forest  swept  into  the  river  each  spring,  so  that 
it  was  easy  to  understand  how  big  a  mass  of  debris  is  brought 
down  each  year  for  deposition  on  the  sea  coast.  For  five  miles 
from  shore  soundings  show  only  4  feet,  the  cause  of  which  is 
seen  in  the  waters  discolored  by  the  sediment  that  settles  far 
out  to  sea. 

Even  in  the  delta  the  scenery,  though  tame,  has  a  quiet 
charm,  heightened  by  the  prospect  of  ending  the  journey.  The 
yellow  marshes,  the  vividly  green  brush,  the  flocks  of  geese  in 
long  procession,  and  the  blue  bourne  of  hills  on  the  eastern 
horizon  give  the  picture  a  touch  of  dignity  and  a  feeling  of 
spaciousness.  Soon  we  approached  the  sea.  On  the  right  the 
marshes  of  the  delta  terminated  in  the  bold  headland  of  Cape 
Romanoff,  while  on  the  left  the  shallows  of  the  estuary  merged 
far  away  into  the  blue  of  the  open  sea.  Turning  northward  we 
reached  St.  Michael,  four  days  from  Tanana. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
ST.  MICHAEL  AND  NOME. 

St.  Michael  is  known  to  every  traveler  in  the  North ;  it  is  a 
name  to  conjure  with,  for  it  evokes  both  curses  and  praises. 
Of  all  the  ports  of  call  on  the  main  lines  of  travel  about  the 
world  there  is  no  place  viewed  so  subjectively  as  St.  Michael. 


ST.    MICHAEL. 


The  personal  point  of  view  colors  the  impression  of  everyone 
who  ever  landed  on  that  lonely  island  in  Bering  Sea ;  for  ex- 
ample, Mr.  Jeremiah  Lynch  found  "a  poor  hotel,"  "innumer- 
able dogs,  guarded  by  a  few  squalid  Indians."  He  had  to  stay 
there  12  davs :  "It  was  a  drearv  detention.'  On  the  other 


300  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

hand,  Mrs.  Ella  Higginson  found  "an  excellent  hotel  at  St. 
Michael,"  also  "beautiful  ivory  carvings"  and  some  gorgeous 
sunsets.  Her  mood  was  most  sympathetic:  "The  tundra  is 
rolling,  with  numerous  pools  that  flame  like  brass  at  sunset." 
and  so  forth.  Finally,  the  lady  waxes  rhapsodical :  "In  all  the 
world  there  cannot  be  another  spot  so  noble  in  which  to  lie 
down  and  rest  when  life's  fevers  and  life's  passions  all  are 
past."  This  author  is  in  evident  agreement  with  the  steam- 
ship companies,  which  have  a  way  of  compelling  travelers  to 
spend  a  few  days  between  boats  on  a  spot  the  beauties  of  which 
are  not  visible  to  the  casual  observer.  St.  Michael  is  a  place  of 
"dreary  detention,"  as  Mr.  Lynch  truly  says;  it  looks  like  a 
penal  settlement,  and  while  it  may  be  an  excellent  spot  when 
"life's  passions"  are  over,  it  is  a  most  undesirable  place  of  so- 
journ as  long  as  anyone  can  bribe  or  hire  a  vessel  to  carry  him 
elsewhere.  The  hotel  is  execrable,  the  town  is  decrepit,  the 
barracks  are  hideous ;  the  derelicts  rotting  in  the  harbor,  the 
filthy  Indians  slouching  on  the  shore,  the  soggy  morass  in  three 
directions  and  the  gray  sea  in  the  offing,  all  combine  to  make  a 
picture  that  has  been  known  to  excite  a  "fitful  fever"  of  great 
violence  and  unexampled  eloquence  against  things  in  general. 
However,  I  ought  not  to  say  too  many  unkind  things  about 
St.  Michael,  for  I  escaped  detention,  spending  only  six  hours 
there.  During  that  interval  I  saw  some  of  the  relics  of  the  Rus- 
sian occupation.  A  fort  was  planted  here  by  Michael  Tebenkoff 
in  1833,  the  block-house  being  built  of  drift-logs  brought  down 
by  the  Yukon.  This  block-house  stands  on  the  shore ;  inside  of 
it  there  remain  six  toy-like  cannon,  weighing  about  100  pounds 
each,  on  wooden  carriages  with  wooden  wheels ;  and  the  gun- 
ports  indicate  how  they  were  used.  A  Greek  church  survives ; 
the  ministrations  are  in  the  hands  of  two  Russian  priests,  the 
congregation  consisting  of  a  dozen  Eskimo  and  a  stray  tourist. 
At  the  back  of  the  hotel  is  a  small  fenced  enclosure  from  which 
the  body  of  a  Russian  bishop  was  taken  to  be  interred  in  front 
of  the  church,  the  body  and  coffin  being  found  preserved  in 
solid  ice.  In  digging,  the  wood  of  the  coffin  was  broken,  and 
thus  by  accident  the  body  was  exposed  to  view,  proving  to  be 


302         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

in  perfect  preservation  and  recognizable  as  one  of  the  earliest 
Russian  ecclesiastics. 

The  shore  is  fringed  with  blocks  of  black  basalt  and  on  the 
horizon  several  conical  hills  suggest  volcanic  vents.  In  the 
topography  the  lava  flows,  covered  by  tundra,  are  manifest. 
Geologically,  St.  Michael  is  recent,  for  it  was  raised  above  the 
sea  not  so  very  long  ago,  the  natives  even  alleging  that  it  has 
been  submerged  within  the  memory  of  their  forefathers. 

We  were  fortunate  in  catching  the  Victoria,  of  the  Alaska 
Steamship  line,  reaching  Nome,  106  miles  from  St.  Michael,  in 
9  hours.  To  arrive  at  Nome  is  not  as  simple  as  it  sounds.  It 
was  night ;  while  the  Victoria  was  yet  churning  the  cold  waters 
of  Bering  Sea  we  saw  the  electric  lights  of  the  town,  a  flashing 
coronet  on  the  cold  brow  of  the  North.  After  nearly  a  week's 
journeying  down  the  sullen  Yukon  and  through  the  heart  of 
the  inhuman  wilderness  it  was  a  pleasant  shock  to  see  the 
evidence  of  modern  industry  and  to  be  made  aware  of  this 
brave  little  community  of  adventurers  so  far  from  civilization. 

After  an  hour's  wait,  and  signaling  with  the  shore,  two 
miles  to  leeward,  we  saw  a  lighter  towed  by  a  tug  approach 
within  the  field  of  the  Victoria's  searchlight.  Disembarking, 
we  descended  onto  the  lighter,  which  was  swinging  in  a  gentle 
swell.  All  being  aboard,  the  tug  towed  the  crowded  lighter, 
but  the  latter  having  no  steering,  she  swung  first  to  one  side 
and  then  to  the  other  as  the  waves  willed.  When  about  150 
yards  from  the  shore  and  within  sound  of  the  surf,  we  came 
close  to  a  tall  steel  tower  standing  in  the  shallow  sea ;  it  proved 
to  be  the  terminal  stations  of  an  aerial  tramway,  used  for  trans- 
porting freight,  and  it  also  served  as  the  anchorage  for  an 
endless  hemp  rope  that  ran  to  the  beach.  The  men  in  charge  of 
the  lighter  grappled  for  this  rope,  but,  after  several  attempts, 
failed.  While  this  performance  was  under  way  the  lighter  was 
drifting  ominously  near  the  line  of  the  breakers,  so  that  the 
tug  had  to  be  recalled  to  pull  the  lighter  back  over  the  line  of 
the  cable.  Then  finally  the  cable  was  caught,  the  attachment 
Avas  made  secure,  and  the  lighter  was  pulled  rapidly  (by  the 
(Midless  rope)  to  the  landing  stage;  a  gang-plank  was  dropped 
expeditiously.  while  the  lighter  rose  and  fell  to  the  motion  of 


304  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

the  sea,  and  without  more  ado  we  scrambled  up  the  gang- 
plank to  the  high  wharf.  Thus  we  reached  Nome,  the  most 
northern  of  the  great  gold  mining  camps  of  the  modern  world. 

Next  morning  (August  26)  a  ride  on  horseback  over  the 
tundra  yielded  first  impressions  of  the  environments  of  Nome. 
Leaving  the  planked  streets  of  the  town  we  followed  the  wagon- 
road  built  by  the  Government  across  the  tundra  to  the  mines 
on  the  Third  Beach.  This  road  is  neither  macadam  nor  cordu- 
roy, it  has  simply  been  drained  and  graveled,  with  a  result  not 
wholly  satisfactory,  leaving  a  broad  black  streak  stretching 
northward  to  the  hills  on  the  near  horizon.  Looking  across 
the  soft  contours  of  this  coastal  plain,  carpeted  with  moss,  the 
tundra  is  seen  to  stretch  to  a  number  of  ridges  indented  by 
valleys.  Between  Anvil  mountain  and  Newton  peak,  both  of 
which  rise  slightly  above  1000  feet,  is  Dry  creek.  The  seaward 
slopes  are  broken  by  gray  outcrops  of  limestone,  while  on  the 
crests  of  the  hills  fantastic  shapes  have  been  weathered  out  of 
schist,  one  of  these  being  the  celebrated  Anvil  rock,  which  gave 
a  name  to  the  wonderfully  rich  valley  in  which  the  pioneers 
found  fortunes. 

On  leaving  the  town  the  road  runs  between  the  shallow  de- 
pressions along  which  Dry  and  Bourbon  creeks  find  their  way 
to  the  sea  :  by  reason  of  a  natural  concentrating  process  these 
small  valleys  contain  deposits  of  gold-bearing  gravel  rich 
enough  to  be  mined  by  various  methods.  A  large  dredge,  evi- 
dently new,  lies  with  broken  back  in  its  own  pond  in  Bourbon 
creek,  telling  of  a  sad  fiasco,  while  close-by  two  or  three  ruined 
contrivances  of  queer  shape  indicate  ill-advised  efforts  at  early 
dredging.  On  the  tundra  in  this  vicinity  an  idle  Keystone  drill 
suggests  the  service  done  to  mining  exploration  by  this  useful 
device,  whereby  a  columnar  sample  of  the  gravel  deposit  is 
obtained  before  actual  mining  begins.  Hiding  on.  the  next 
object  to  arrest  attention  is  a  cluster  of  stakes — six  of  them — 
indicating  a  conflict  of  ownership,  for  while  four  stakes  would 
be  required  at  the  corner  where  two  bench  claims  and  two 
creek  claims  intersect,  the  two  extra  posts  mean  that  someone 
had  been  'jumping'  the  location,  with  an  inevitable  sequel  of 


ST.  MICHAEL  AND  NOME. 


litigation,  such  as  has  embittered  the  whole  existence  of  this 
frontier  community. 

Leaving  the  main  road  we  follow  a  trail  along  Dry  creek, 
where  mining  is  in  progress.  A  group  of  men  are  shoveling 
the  gravel  into  sluice-boxes,  the  water  for  washing  being  con- 
ducted from  a  ditch  through  a  canvas  hose,  whose  white  ser- 
pentine length  quivers  with  life  as  the  water  courses  through 
it.  This  method  is  simple  and  flexible ;  it  was  used  by  the 
pioneers  in  California.  The  hose  is  14  inches  in  diameter  and 
is  made  of  12  to  14  ounce  canvas,  sewed  with  three  seams. 


DISABLED   DREDGE   ON   BOURBON   CREEK,    NOME. 

Where  the  men  are  mining,  the  gravel  has  thawed  naturally ; 
this  is  indicated  by  clusters  of  scrubby  willow,  little  bushes 
only  three  or  four  feet  high,  but  a  valuable  sign  to  the  miner, 
who  knows  that  wherever  on  the  tundra  he  sees  the  dwarf 
wallows  he  can  be  assured  of  soft  ground  all  the  way  to  bed- 
rock. 

Surmounting  the  rise  above  Dry  creek  the  trail  crosses  the 
line  of  a  railroad,  a  branch  of  the  Seward  Peninsula  Railway. 
This  narrow-gauge  system  was  originally  built,  to  Anvil  creek, 
by  the  Wild  Goose  Mining  &  Trading  Co.  at  the  time  when 
Charles  D.  Lane  was  in  command ;  it  is  80  miles  lona\  with  the 


306  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

inland  terminus  at  Lanes  Landing  in  the  Kongarok  district. 
While  serving  a  useful  purpose,  this  is  a  railway  of  crude  con- 
struction, without  rock  ballast  and  without  grading,  laid  simply 
on  the  rolling  tundra.  The  rails  lie  on  ties  and  the  ties  on 
'stringers'  of  three-inch  plank  placed  lengthwise.  On  slopes 
only  one  stringer  is  used,  namely,  on  the  lower  side.  The  line 
is  ballasted  with  moss  and  follows  the  easiest  available  con- 
tours, up  and  down  and  round  about.  An  attempt  was  made 
to  strip  the  moss  and  lay  the  track  on  the  gravel,  but  this  plan 
proved  a  failure  owing  to  the  melting  of  the  exposed  surface 
causing  the  impermanent  way  to  sink  out  of  sight.  I  did  not 
travel  on  this  railroad,  although  in  receipt  of  a  card  that  would 
have  made  a  journey  inexpensive.  Nor  was  this  declination 
unwarranted,  as  was  proved  by  a  sad  fatality  a  few  days  later. 
On  September  15  a  train  going  to  Lanes  Landing  was  derailed 
without  any  apparent  cause,  and  when  the  cars  were  over- 
turned several  persons  wrere  seriously  injured ;  among  these 
\vas  Cabel  Whitehead,  \vho  two  or  three  days  earlier  had  re- 
signed as  president  of  the  company  controlling  the  railway. 
AVhitehead  was  a  chemist  and  banker,  a  leader  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Seward  Peninsula  and  a  notable  figure  in  Alaskan 
history.  He  had  invited  me  to  go  with  him  on  a  fishing  and 
hunting  expedition,  but  another  engagement  prevented  accept- 
ance of  this  courtesy.  When  the  train  'jumped  the  track/  he 
was  sitting  on  a  flat  car,  on  which  lumber  was  loaded,  and  as 
the  car  turned  over  he  was  thrown  into  a  water  hole  in  the 
tundra  with  some  of  the  lumber  on  top  of  him.  so  that  fully 
two  minutes  elapsed  before  he  could  be  extricated.  His  lungs 
had  become  filled  with  the  sandy  cold  water,  violent  pneumonia 
supervened,  and  lie  died  two  days  later.  The  funeral  took 
place  on  the  day  when  the  Northwestern  sailed,  and  as  we  lay 
off  shore  on  September  8,  a  lighter  was  towed  alongside,  and  a 
coffin  covered  with  the  national  flag  was  hoisted  aboard,  with 
no  further  ceremony  than  the  doffing  of  every  hat.  He  was  a 
useful  man.  a  scholar,  and  a  gentleman. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 
NOME  AND  THE  ESKIMO. 

Nome  is  attractive,  a  haven  alike  for  the  storm-tossed  sailor 
on  Bering  Sea  and  the  leg-weary  traveler  over  the  interminable 
tundra.  It  is  a  clean  little  town  inhabited  bv  a  cheerful  com- 


NOME. 

munity  of  hardy  people.  Stretching  along  the  edge  of  the 
coastal  plain,  Nome  is  on  the  fringe  of  things  in  general,  but 
it  has  a  strong  grip  on  life  and  happiness.  Being  on  the  tundra, 
the  streets  are  planked,  otherwise  they  would  be  mere  canals 
of  bottomless  mud.  Owing  to  the  mode  of  construction  and 
the  scarcity  of  vehicular  traffic,  the  streets  are  quiet  and  clean. 


308         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

The  main  thoroughfare  is  Front  street,  which  is  narrow  and 
crooked,  giving  picturesque  effects.  For  a  mile  it  extends  be- 
tween the  wooden  dwellings  and  shacks  dedicated  to  many  and 
varied  uses,  from  banks  to  bagnios,  from  stores  to  saloons, 
from  fish  to  furs. 

Nome  has  a  population  of  4500  in  summer,  when  business  is 
most  active ;  in  winter  the  number  shrinks  to  3000.  In  1908 
the  town  polled  1500  voters.  Nome  boasts  a  larger  proportion 
of  women  and  children  than  any  other  settlement  in  the  Far 
North,  and  despite  the  yearly  exodus  there  is  a  steady  in- 
crease of  those  who  are  willing  to  remain  through  the  long 
winter.  Most  of  the  engineers  and  other  professional  men 
connected  with  mining  operations  go  'outside'  just  before  the 
close  of  navigation,  as  fixed  by  the  southward  movement  of  the 
ice-pack.  In  1908  the  "last  boat"  left  on  October  23.  From 
then  until  June  all  communication  is  overland  by  dog-team  to 
St.  Michael  and  thence  by  wray  of  Fairbanks  to  Valdez,  where 
steamship  connection  is  made  with  Seattle.  Early  in  June  the 
"first  boat"  arrives  amid  great  excitement.  In  the  effort  to 
bring  the  first  stock  of  supplies  to  the  hibernating  folk  at 
Nome,  the  steamers  from  San  Francisco  and  Seattle  have  been 
known  to  brave  the  ice-pack,  with  results  disastrous  to  every- 
one concerned.  In  1903  the  Portland  and  the  Jennie  were  caught 
in  the  ice  and  were  carried  through  Bering  strait  into  the  Arctic 
until  the  ice-drift  released  them.  In  1908  the  Yucatan  was  17 
days  overdue  and  the  Victoria  arrived  with  a  hole  in  her  bow, 
while  the  ice-pack  gripped  the  Ohio  so  securely  that  she  was  33 
days  overdue.  Whether  the  ice  was  wholly  to  blame,  or  an 
over-cautious  captain  of  the  Ohio,  is  a  subject  that  will  provoke 
violent  discussion  at  Nome  even  to  this  day. 

When  called  into  being  as  a  place  of  landing  at  the  mouth 
of  Snake  river,  in  1899,  Xome  consisted  of  a  few  tents,  to  which 
log-cabins  were  added  when  the  pioneers  had  collected  the 
drift-wood  on  the  shore.  In  the  first  winter  no  other  fuel  was 
available  except  the  drift-wood  brought  by  the  Yukon  into 
Bering  Sea  and  strewn  by  the  waves  along  the  low  coast.  It 
WHS  a  providential  gift.  Kven  with  the  help  of  wood  fires  that 
was  a  dreary  winter  for  the  handful  of  men  who  camped  on  the 


ESKIMO   WOMAN   AND   CHILD. 


310         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

edge  of  the  coastal  plain.  They  tell  me  that  there  was  much 
fog,  causing  men  to  lose  their  way  on  the  trackless  waste ; 
among  these  was  the  present  City  Attorney,  who  was  lost  for 
four  days.  Once  away  from  the  shore  there  was  nothing  to 
serve  as  a  landmark  and  not  many  were  wise  enough  to  use  a 
compass.  The  drinking  of  tundra  wrater  and  the  general  un- 
sanitary conditions  led  to  an  outbreak  of  typhoid,  from  which 
100  died  at  Nome,  while  others  died  on  the  steamers  going 
home.  This  unnerved  many  of  the  newrcomers,  but  it  had  a 
good  result  in  stimulating  the  construction  of  a  pipe-line  to 
the  Moonlight  springs,  whence  excellent  water  is  brought  four 
miles  to  the  town. 

Those  gold-seekers  who  went  'out'  in  the  fall  of  1899  and 
landed  at  San  Francisco  and  Seattle  announced  the  richness 
of  the  beach  and  the  creeks  of  Nome.  As  nearly  $3,000,000 
worth  of  gold  testified  to  the  truth  of  their  stories,  the  interest 
excited  was  keen  enough  to  cause  a  big  stampede,  like  the  one 
to  the  Klondike  two  years  earlier.  But  it  differed  from  that 
'rush'  in  the  fact  that  access  to  the  new  diggings  was  wholly 
by  sea,  and  without  privation,  so  that  the  crowd  of  men  who 
landed  on  the  beach  of  Nome  in  June  1900  were  even  less  fitted 
for  rough  work  than  those  who  tramped  over  the  White  and 
Chilkoot  passes. 

Every  calling  in  life  was  represented,  especially  the  shift- 
less and  visionary  who  hoped  to  make  a  short  cut  to  wealth. 
They  paid  from  $125  to  $300  to  come  to  Nome  and  they  paid 
from  $100  to  $125  to  return  to  'the  States,'  as  most  of  them 
did  after  a  rapid  disillusionment.  Steerage  passengers  paid 
$60  to  $75.  The  steamers  were  terribly  crowded,  1100  to  1200 
men  were  put  on  boats  of  2000  to  2500  tons,  and  every  old  hulk 
on  the  Pacific  coast  was  requisitioned  for  this  lucrative  service. 
There  was  the  inevitable  'graft'  that  disgraces  every  episode 
of  this  kind.  Empty  cabins  on  crowded  ships  testified  to  the 
corrupt  practices  of  pursers  who  made  money  by  selling  privi- 
leges to  those  who  were  willing  to  bribe,  while  persons  who 
had  paid  for  berths  found  themselves  shut  out  unless  they  "took 
care"  of  those  in  brief  authority. 

As   seen    from    the   incoming  ships   the   tented   city   on    the 


NOME  AND  THE  ESKIMO. 


311 


edge  of  the  tundra  looked  like  a  snow-drift.     Tents  stretched 
from  Fort  Davis  to  Penny  river,  a  distance  of  22  miles. 

Fully  2500  landed  at  Nome  early  in  the  summer  of  1900  and 
camped  on  the  edge  of  the  tundra,  where  a  white  city  five  miles 
long  faced  the  shore,  then  littered  with  freight  and  machinery, 
including  some  of  the  weirdest  devices  ever  invented.  Natur- 
ally "the  golden  sands  of  Nome"  had  served  as  a  fascinating 
cry  from  irresponsible  brokers  to  the  gullible  portion  of  the 
public.  Companies  were  formed  without  limit  and  stock  was 


A    RELIC   OF   THE    BOOM  ON   THE    BEACH   AT   NOME. 

sold  without  stint,  the  flamboyant  promoter  spurning  the 
handicap  of  truth  or  limited  knowledge  of  such  facts  as  might 
hinder  him  in  framing  his  alluring  prospectus.  Of  course,  if 
individuals  without  machinery  could  earn  $10  and  $20  per  day 
by  mere  digging  of  the  sea-beach,  it  was  obvious  that  with 
machinery  and  expert  knowledge,  the  winnings  would  be  tre- 
mendous. Thus  they  salted  the  tail  of  the  bird  of  their  imagi- 
nation until  they  thought  they  held  it  fluttering  within  their 
greedy  hands.  Every  kind  of  gold-saving  device  was  brought 
to  Nome,  from  patent  cradles  to  cumbrous  dredges.  It  was 


312  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

planned  to  dredge  under  the  waves,  the  promoters  believing 
that  the  gold  was  swept  shoreward  from  the  sea,  and  therefore 
the  greater  the  distance  from  the  shore  the  richer  the  sea- 
bottom.  For  this  fallacy  there  was  no  excuse,  because  Brooks 
and  Schrader  of  the  Geological  Survey  had  already  published 
a  preliminary  report,  giving  a  simple  explanation  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  deposits.  This  is  a  fitting  place  to  refer  to  the 
great  service  done  by  the  geologists  of  the  Survey,  not  to  Nome 
only,  but  to  Alaska  in  general,  through  the  publication — with- 
out delay — of  maps  and  descriptions  of  local  geology  such  as 
the  intelligent  miner  could  use  as  a  scientific  guide  in  his  daily 
operations.  At  Nome,  in  particular,  the  work  of  the  Survey 
exemplifies  the  invaluable  aid  given  by  a  scientific  bureau  to  a 
young  industry.  The  description  of  the  beach  deposits  and  the 
explanation  of  their  mode  of  origin,  published  in  the  first  recon- 
naissance reports,  were  in  effect  a  prophecy  that  similar  concen- 
trations would  be  found  on  the  coastal  plain,  and  I  do  not 
doubt  that  the  discovery  of  the  Second  and  Third  beaches  was 
hastened  by  the  elementary  but  fundamental  geologic  principles 
enunciated  by  Brooks  and  Schrader  in  1900. 

A  few  profited  by  the  information  published  by  the  Survey, 
but  to  the  mob  it  mattered  little,  and  to  the  faker  it  was  a 
hindrance.  Therefore  vast  sums  of  money  were  squandered  in 
the  delirious  trimmings  of  machinery,  relics  of  which  can  still 
be  seen  cast  away  upon  the  shore.  One  fearsome  machine  is 
shown  in  the  accompanying  photograph ;  it  had  huge  iron 
wheels  with  fiat  broad  tires  and  carried  a  suction  pump  by 
Avhich  the  sand  was  elevated  to  a  washing  apparatus.  This 
contraption  was  supposed  to  stand  in  the  breakers  and  reach 
the  gold  on  the  bottom  of  Bering  Sea.  Several  dredges  of 
nightmare  design  lie  half  buried  in  the  sand.  If  there  be  few 
survivors  of  the  array  of  machines  that  crowded  the  narrow 
beach  in  1000,  it  is  because  a  big  storm  on  August  9  smashed 
them  and  swept  them  high  on  the  tundra.  A  few  linger  on  the 
winding  estuary  of  the  Snake  river,  and  there  I  saw  them 
standing  as  a  warning,  let  us  hope,  to  the  inexperienced. 

In  June  1900  the  Oreijon  brought  four  smallpox  cases  to 
Xome :  when  this  fact  became  known  there  was  a  scare  that 


AX  ESKIMO   BELLE. 


314  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

took  the  heart  out  of  the  mob  of  disappointed  gold-seekers. 
Many  had  come  expecting  to  find  the  beach  glittering  with 
nuggets.  Some  of  these  simple  ones  lost  their  reason.  A  man 
was  seen  to  walk  along  the  shore  and  reach  down  for  a  grab  of 
sand,  which  he  then  spread  on  his  hand ;  finding  no  gold,  he 
blew  out  his  brains.  An  old  man  and  his  wife  pitched  their 
tent  on  the  beach  and  two  days  later  were  found  dead;  their 
disappointment  had  been  too  much  for  them,  so  the  husband 
had  first  shot  the  wife  and  then  himself.  It  was  a  tawdry  set- 
tlement full  of  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  the  human  tide.  At 
one  time  as  many  as  2000  worked  on  the  beach  and  the  gold 
easily  wron  was  quickly  spent  by  most  of  them  in  the  saloons 
and  dives  that  were  so  numerous.  In  the  summer  of  1900  there 
were  30,000  people  at  Nome,  but  16,000  left  in  13  weeks.  They 
left  hurriedly,  selling  their  effects  as  best  they  could,  so  that 
one  or  two  enterprising  men  bought  supplies  for  two  years 
ahead  at  prices  that  represented  10  cents  on  the  dollar.  The 
smallpox  scare  prompted  many  to  decamp,  the  impending  win- 
ter frightened  others,  inability  to  get  work  and  the  high  cost 
of  living  made  life  impossible  for  even  those  who  were  willing 
to  exert  themselves,  and  these  were  shipped  'outside'  either  by 
the  Government  or  by  private  charity.  The  output  of  gold  in 
1900,  including  the  creeks,  is  estimated  to  have  been  $4,750,000. 
Since  then  this  mining  district  has  been  the  scene  of  anarchy 
disgraceful  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  but  that  is 
so  complicated  a  story  that  I  leave  it  for  the  moment,  while 
we  watch  the  life  of  Nome  as  it  is  seen  today. 

Nome,  more  than  any  other  region,  gave  an  impression  of 
strangeness  such  as  may  well  have  befallen  the  adventurers  of 
Queen  Elizabeth's  time  when  they  first  invaded  the  Spanish 
main.  Here  were  uncouth  simple  natives,  wholly  unlike  the 
American  aborigines;  here  wood  was  so  scarce  that  these  na- 
tives treasured  a  piece  of  willow  as  if  it  were  precious  metal; 
here  were  no  forests,  only  a  dreary  waste  of  tundra ;  here  the 
air  was  so  still  that  voices  could  be  heard  afar;  here  day  and 
night  were  scarcely  distinguishable,  work  proceeding  at  mid- 
night as  at  noon  in  the  ethereal  illumination  that  most  of  the 
gold-seekers  had  never  seen  before  on  land  or  sea. 


NOME  AND  THE  ESKIMO. 


315 


The  Front  street  of  Nome  has  more  character  than  the  thor- 
oughfare of  any  other  American  mining  camp.  This  it  owes  to 
the  Eskimo.  As  Cairo  is  the  meeting  place  of  the  Eastern  and 
Western  civilizations,  so  Nome  is  the  spot  where  the  people  of 
the  Arctic  mingle  with  the  invaders  from  the  Temperate  zone. 
This  gives  a  strange  diversity  of  costume.  The  gay  cloak  or 
parka  is  worn  by  both  sexes;  it  is  made  of  colored  drilling. 


ESKIMO   GIRLS. 

imported,  of  course ;  this  is  a  new  fashion,  for  the  old  Eskimo 
wore  only  the  skins  of  animals,  chiefly  squirrel  and  reindeer 
hides.  Reindeer-skin  is  supposed  to  be  the  warmest  fur ;  the 
hair  is  close ;  it  belongs  to  the  animal  living  in  the  bleakest 
region  of  the  globe.  The  undergarments — shirt  and  drawers — 
are  made  of  the  skins  of  reindeer  fawns,  the  hair  being  worn 
against  the  body.  The  women  wear  the  same  clothing,  but 


316  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

in  the  form  of  a  'combination'.  In  Siberia  the  natives  wear  a 
thicker  garment  of  full-grown  reindeer-skin.  This  undergar- 
ment, with  the  fur  against  the  body,  is  covered  with  another 
having  the  fur  outside ;  and  this  completes  the  costume,  except 
that  in  traveling  the  Eskimo  wears  an  overgarment  that  serves 
to  protect  him  from  the  wind :  a  parka  made  of  drilling,  and 
provided  with  a  wolverine  hood.  Wolverine  is  said  to  be  the 
only  fur  on  which  the  frost  will  not  gather,  as  the  long  hair 
prevents  it  from  matting.  Other  furs  when  dampened  by  the 
breath  will  freeze,  forming  icicles  against  the  face.  The  Eski- 
mo's socks  are  made  of  the  hide  taken  from  the  legs  of  the 
reindeer;  over  this  he  wears  the  mukluk,  a  high  leather  boot, 
the  body  of  which  is  made  of  hair-seal,  the  hair  being  some- 
times removed.  The  top  of  the  inukhik  is  made  of  reindeer  hide 
taken  from  the  animal's  legs,  and  the  sole  is  lined  either  with 
walrus  or  wTith  seal-skin.  In  summer  they  wear  a  high  water- 
proof covering  made  of  the  skin  of  the  hair-seal,  which  is  kept 
soft  by  the  application  of  seal-oil,  the  smell  of  which  emanates 
from  everything  belonging  to  the  Eskimo.  Rancid  seal-oil  has 
an  odor  that  travels  far  and  is  unwearied.  The  reindeer-skins 
are  soft  and  beautifully  tanned,  the  inner  bark  of  willow  being 
used  for  this  purpose.  Deer-skin  caps,  with  the  hair  outside  and 
with  no  lining,  are  worn  in  winter.  The  women's  heads  are 
protected  by  their  own  hair,  black,  thick,  and  long.  It  is 
washed  in  an  unmentionable  fluid,  but  soap  is  now  being  used 
also.  On  first  making  the  acquaintance  of  soap,  they  ate  it, 
like  the  man  who  put  his  feet  in  the  gruel,  and  drank  the  mus- 
tard and  water.  Mistakes  will  happen.  The  children's  little 
jmrkas  are  fringed  with  a  niching  of  land-otter,  and  their  oily 
brown  faces,  with  a  touch  of  deep  red,  are  lit  by  intensely  black 
eyes  and  a  cheerful  smile.  They  look  happy,  even  though  in 
clothing  and  manner  of  life  they  differ  so  much  from  the  pink 
and  white  youngsters  of  the  Southern  folk. 

On  the  sand-spit  at  the  mouth  of  the  Snake  river  an  Eskimo 
settlement  has  been  made.  Most  of  the  shelters  under  which 
they  live  consist  of  nmniakx,  or  family  boats,  turned  on  edge. 
A  few  tents  give  variety  to  the  scene.  Tom-cod  in  festoons  are 
hung  on  poles,  dotrs  are  asleep  in  the  sand,  dirty  native  women 


REINDEER. 


AN   ESKIMO   IN   HIS   KAYAK. 


318         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

crouch  by  the  camp-fire,  a  young  fellow  is  finishing  a  kayak,  the 
tin  debris  of  the  boom  days  litters  the  shore,  a  smell  of  seal- 
oil  is  borne  on  the  breeze — it  is  not  an  inspiring  picture.  These 
Eskimo  live  on  Cape  Prince  of  Wales  and  come  to  Nome  in 
summer,  to  fish  and  to  sell  curios,  such  as  carved  ivory,  mainly 
Avalrus  tusks. 

The  Eskimo,  or  Innuit  as  they  call  themselves,  live  in  under- 
ground hovels  called  igloos.  To  them  also  "there  is  no  place 
like  hime"  and  I  can  vouch  for  it  that  there  is  no  place  like  the 
Eskimo's  home.  It  is  not  possible  to  describe  the  habits  of 
these  people  or  their  queer  customs,  for  some  of  them  would 
disgust  the  polite  reader.  They  have  been  related  in  other 
books  of  travel.  "One  man's  meat  is  another  man's  poison'' 
and  one  people's  ways  would  poison  the  minds  of  another.  At 
night  when  at  home  the  men  strip  nude  and  the  women  wear 
a  breech-clout;  as  soon  as  they  go  indoors  they  remove  their 
reindeer  clothing,  which,  of  course,  is  infested  with  insects  that 
do  not  annoy  them,  mainly  because  their  smooth  hard  skin  is 
continually  smeared  with  seal-oil.  The  clothes  are  hung  on  a 
pole  above  the  lamp,  fed  with  seal-oil,  standing  in  the  centre 
of  the  igloo,  and  thus  they  are  dried.  In  frosty  weather  the 
native  takes  his  skin  clothes  and  beats  them  with  two  deer- 
horns  provided  with  a  crook,  like  a  golf-stick.  This  they  do  the 
first  thing  in  the  morning  so  as  to  disengage  the  vermin. 

On  the  Siberian  side  the  natives  rarely  die  a  natural  death. 
"When  old  or  diseased  they  are  killed  by  hanging  or  by  stabbing, 
often  at  their  own  request.  Suicides  are  frequent,  especially 
among  the  women.  These  have  been  known  to  go  out  into  a 
winter  storm  nude  and  court  death  by  free/ing.  Their  lives  are 
those  of  animals,  and  though  they  possess  some  sort  of  intelli- 
gence making  them  superior  to  the  beasts  that  they  hunt,  it  is 
a  self-consciousness  that  only  adds  to  their  misery.  I  would 
rather  be  a  seal  or  a  polar  bear  than  an  Eskimo. 

Come  arid  dine  with  me  at  the  Royal  Cafe:  it  is  not  the  Cafe 
Koyal.  and  yet  if  previously  you  have  walked  over  the  tundra 
or  ridden  on  horseback  along  the  firm  sands  of  Bering  Sea, 
you  will  pronounce  it  a  good  restaurant,  however  you  may  pro- 
nounce the  iKiine  it  bears.  The  place  is  crowded  but  clean;  the 


ESKIMO   CHILDREN. 


POLAR    BEAR   AND    HUNTKR. 


320         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

well  intended  efforts  of  a  piano  and  a  violin  give  a  touch  of 
gaiety,  arid  the  crowd  that  passes  along  the  main  street  can  be 
watched  with  interest  while  the  reindeer  stew  or  the  roast 
ptarmigan  is  being  prepared.  The  Eskimo  give  color  to  the 
scene ;  the  women  in  their  pink  and  yellow  parkas  and  wolverine 
hoods  look  like  ladies  on  their  way  to  a  party ;  the  men  in  fur 
ruffles  and  light  drill  parkas  wear  visored  caps  or  else  go  bare- 
headed with  masses  of  long  black  hair  trimmed  with  a  Dutch 
cut.  Two  Eskimo  carry  the  skin  of  a  polar  bear  on  a  long  pole. 
Others  have  carved  whalebone  for  sale.  Dogs  are  numerous. 
The  bright  tints  of  the  native  costume  produce  a  chromatic  live- 
liness unusual  in  a  mining  camp.  The  huskies  and  the  mala- 
mutes  accompany  the  Eskimo  and  suggest  Arctic  life.  An  occa- 
sional Saxon  of  fresh  complexion  looks  very  pink  amid  these 
black  and  oily  denizens  of  the  North.  Stalwart  miners  in  high 
laced  boots  and  stiff  broad-brimmed  hats  recall  Colorado  and 
Nevada.  Women  dressed  conventionally  indicate  that  Nome 
has  homes  as  well  as  mines.  The  superintendent  of  a  mine  rides 
past  on  a  handsome  black  horse  that  clatters  over  the  boarded 
street  and  scatters  the  Eskimo  children  with  the  dogs.  And  all 
this  time  the  musicians  in  the  background  have  been  doing  their 
best,  as  well  as  the  cook.  Silver  salmon,  reindeer  steak,  and- 
ptarmigan,  followed  by  blueberry  pie,  represent  adequate  nour- 
ishment of  a  kind  suited  to  the  picturesque  environment.  A 
demi-tasse  and  a  Havana  cigar  emphasize  the  fact  that  Nome  is 
no  jumping-off  place,  but  on  the  highway  of  civilization  from 
New  York  to  Paris,  via  Bering  strait. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 
THE  DOG  RACE. 

Eskimo  and  dogs  make  Nome  lively,  especially  at  night.  A 
fire  on  Sesnon's  wharf  incited  the  dogs  to  a  special  outbreak 
of  howling  on  one  otherwise  quiet  night.  The  noise  was  some- 
thing between  the  sad  plaint  of  fiends  in  hell — so  I  am  told — 
and  the  caterwauling  of  felines  on  the  garden  wall — this  I 
know.  The  outcry  was  especially  weird  when  it  became  faint, 
as  if  in  hopeless  agony.  A  few  barks  from  'outside'  dogs  could 
be  heard  clearly,  but  the  uproar  came  predominantly  from  the 
native  canines. 

'Huskies'  and  'malamutes'  roam  on  every  street  and  alley 
of  Nome.  Htiski  is  a  native  word  for  Eskimo  and  malamute  is 
the  name  of  a  tribe  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon.  These  dogs 
are  stocky  and  sturdy,  extremely  muscular  and  long-haired, 
so  that  they  are  well  fitted  to  pull  sleds  over  the  snow.  When 
on  the  trail  in  winter  the  dogs  are  fed  with  dried  salmon,  one 
fish  weighing  two  pounds  being  given  to  each  dog.  After  the 
fish,  the  dogs  are  fed  with  three-quarters  of  a  pound  up  to 
one  pound  of  fat  bacon,  of  the  cheapest  variety.  Some  men 
cook  a  mixture  of  salmon,  rice  or  cornmeal,  and  bacon  drip- 
pings. When  cooled,  this  mess  is  arranged  in  little  mounds  on 
the  snow  at  regular  distances,  so  that  the  dogs  may  not  poach 
on  one  another's  allotment.  They  will  eat  anything  fat,  such 
as  lard  or  tallow,  the  appetite  for  such  food  being  developed 
both  by  man  and  beast  through  adaptation  to  a  cold  environ- 
ment. If  the  bacon  is  not  rendered  out  before  being  mixed 
with  the  cooked  food,  a  clever  dog  will  go  from  one  pile  to 
another  and  use  his  paw  so  as  to  pick  out  the  scraps  of  bacon. 
This  will  lead  to  fighting,  of  course ;  for  the  dogs  recognize 


322  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

no  friend  except  the  man  who  feeds  them,  and  only  while  he 
feeds  them.  When  fish  is  fed  dry  to  the  dogs,  it  is  first  thawed 
by  being  broiled  slightly  over  a  fire,  so  as  to  bring  the  oil  to  the 
surface.  When  on  the  trail  the  dogs  are  fed  once  a  day,  at  the 
end  of  the  run ;  if  fed  in  the  morning,  they  become  torpid. 

Travelers  must  take  care  not  to  be  frost-bitten  in  winter 
when  'mushing'  with  a  dog-team.  In  extremely  cold  weather, 
especially  when  windy,  a  patch  of  rabbit  skin,  with  hair  at- 
tached, is  put  on  the  tip  of  the  nose  and  on  each  cheek-bone ; 
this  will  delay  freezing.  The  fur  is  moistened  and  becomes  at- 
tached on  the  hairy  side,  the  idea  being  that  it  protects  the 
spots  on  the  face  where  freezing  would  otherwise  start.  The 
natives  wear  wooden  spectacles  or  a  wooden  eye-mask,  with  a 
slit  for  each  eye,  to  guard  against  snow-blindness.  If  blinded 
by  the  glare  of  snow,  a  bit  of  raw  meat  or  even  a  raw  potato 
serves  as  a  poultice  to  lessen  the  inflammation.  That  is  a 
remedy  used  in  the  mountains  of  Colorado.  When  traveling 
in  the  North  during  winter,  care  must  also  be  taken  not  to  be- 
come so  hot  as  to  perspire,  for  if  a  man  becomes  warm  and  then 
stops  to  rest,  the  moisture  freezes  and  he  is  in  danger  of  a  sud- 
den chill,  leading  to  pneumonia.  The  aim  is  to  keep  cool  with- 
out becoming  cold.  When  on  the  march  the  outer  garments 
are  doffed  as  soon  as  the  traveler  becomes  warm,  the  experi- 
enced men  usually  wearing  only  a  drill  parka  to  protect  them 
from  the  wind,  leaving  the  fur  parka  for  the  time  when  they 
are  weary  or  when  their  vitality  has  run  down.  Great  care  is 
taken  of  the  feet,  to  keep  them  warmly  clad.  A  man  with  frost- 
bitten toes  in  the  wilderness  of  snow  is  in  a  bad  plight.  Or- 
dinary socks,  'German  socks,'  straw  in  the  sole,  and  then  'muk- 
luks'  over  everything,  constitute  the  best  foot-gear. 

The  malamute  dogs  are  miserable  in  summer,  but  full  of 
life  in  winter.  On  the  wildest  night  that  blows  a  malamute 
will  lie  where  the  wind  will  strike  him  fair.  They  are  extraor- 
dinarily hardy.  By  service  with  the  sleds  they  develop  into 
lively  bundles  of  muscle;  they  enjoy  their  work  in  harness 
and  run  like  spirited  horses,  so  that  the  driver  is  compelled  to 
apply  his  brake.  The  usual  price  of  a  good  malamute  is  $50, 


THE  DOG  RACE.  323 

although  some  of  the  dogs  in  the  celebrated  race  brought  $400 
to  $500  apiece. 

The  first  dog-team  race  on  the  Seward  Peninsula  started  on 
April  1,  1908,  the  course  being  from  Nome  to  Candle  and  re- 
turn, a  distance  of  440  miles.  Ten  competitors  started.  No 
limit  was  placed  to  the  number  of  dogs  in  a  team,  but  each 
driver  had  to  return  with  the  same  dogs  as  he  had  at  the  start, 
whether  alive  in  the  harness  or  dead  in  the  sled.  This  rule  was 
meant  to  prevent  cruelty  or  excessive  strain  on  the  endurance 
of  the  dogs.  For  instance,  one  dog  in  Bob  Adams'  team  fro/.e 
in  his  traces  during  the  storm  that  swept  over  the  country  a 


A   DOG   TEAM   ON   THK    MARCH. 

few  hours  after  the  start  from  Nome  and  his  dead  body  was 
carried  on  the  sled  for  the  remainder  of  the  race.  The  teams 
consisted  either  of  seven  or  nine  dogs,  the  odd  one  being  the 
leader,  who  was  an  'outside'  dog,  that  is,  a  setter  or  St.  Ber- 
nard of  mixed  breed.  Intelligence  and  grit,  rather  than 
strength,  are  required  in  the  leader,  and  for  this  reason  the 
pairs  of  huskies  and  malamutes  of  the  Eskimo  follow  the  dog 
brought  by  the  white  man  from  another  country.  The  harness 
includes  a  collar  that  is  pulled  over  the  head  and  padded,  like 
a  horse-collar.  The  dogs  were  fed  with  fish  and  bacon  in  the 
usual  way.  together  with  rice  and  condensed  milk.  Only  one 
meal  a  day  was  permitted,  preferably  at  night,  after  the  day's 


324  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

work  was  over.  The  dogs  in  the  winning  team  ranged  in 
weight  from  80  to  97  pounds,  the  average  weight  being  86 
pounds. 

The  sled  used  in  this  race  was  made  of  light  oak  or  hickory 
slats,  shod  with  brass  and  overlapped  with  brass  bands.  The 
maximum  weight  of  the  sleds  was  45  pounds,  Fink's  weighing 
only  20  pounds.  Albert  Fink  is  the  Nome  lawyer  who  owned 
the  winning  team.  The  race  took  5  days,  less  40  minutes,  the 
first  three  teams  arriving  within  30  minutes  of  each  other  as 
measured  by  the  actual  running  time,  for  they  did  not  start 
simultaneously,  but  at  intervals,  so  as  not  to  interfere.  The 
ten  teams  started  two  hours  apart,  the  order  being  decided  by 
casting  lots,  the  winner  choosing  to  start  last,  thinking  it  best 
to  let  the  other  teams  break  the  trail  over  which  he  would  fol- 
low. This  helped  Fink's  team.  For  it  so  happened  that  the 
teams  which  started  first  felt  the  brunt  of  a  storm  that  over- 
took them  soon  after  the  start,  when  only  40  miles  from  Nome. 
Six  of  the  teams  were  held  for  20  hours  at  Brown's  road-house 
by  reason  of  this  blizzard.  Thus  the  three  teams  that  started 
last  had  a  big  advantage  in  time.  And  they  tried  to  get  every 
other  advantage,  coaxing  the  extra  dogs  running  loose  behind 
the  sled  in  front  of  them,  thereby  hindering  an  opponent  from 
reaching  the  next  resting  place,  for  each  driver  had  to  be  sure 
of  all  his  dogs,  the  absence  of  any  one  of  them  disqualifying 
the  team. 

The  race  was  for  a  prize  of  $2500,  and  by  private  arrange- 
ment in  one  case,  at  least,  the  driver  was  to  receive  half  the 
purse.  But  this  did  not  measure  the  amount  of  money  at 
stake,  for  betting  was  brisk.  Fink  made  bets  of  $300  at  4  to 
1  against  the  field  in  behalf  of  his  driver  and  each  of  his  three 
commissary  men.  The  race  was  reported  by  the  telephone 
service  established  by  A.  E.  Boyd  along  the  road  between  Nome 
and  Candle:  thus  the  arrival  and  departure  of  each  team  at 
any  one  of  the  thirteen  telephone  stations  was  reported,  so  that 
the  entire  race  was  watched  from  start  to  finish,  amid  the 
greatest  local  excitement.  The  bulletin  board  at  Nome  was 
never  without  a  crowd,  the  interest  being  prolonged  for  five 
davs.  The  winner  made  the  course  in  4  davs  23  hours  15 


& 
•a 

00        £Z 

o      to 

O5        — • 


r     o 

^    Q 


326  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

minutes,  and  the  second  team  made  it  in  5  days  7  minutes  52 
seconds,  so  that  the  difference  in  time  over  the  440  miles  was 
only  52  minutes.  These  teams  were  delayed  20  and  22  hours, 
respectively,  by  the  storm.  The  average  time  was  8  miles  an 
hour.  Of  the  three  winning  teams  not  a  dog  was  injured  by 
the  race ;  in  a  couple  of  days  afterward  they  were  in  harness 
again  and  ready  for  work.  At  one  time  it  looked  as  if  Fink 
would  lose,  so  he  hedged  miserably.  This  was  neither  good 
sportsmanship  nor  good  judgment,  for  he  had  a  splendid 
driver- — -Bert  Barber.  On  arrival  he  had  seven  dogs  in  harness 
and  two  running  loose  behind.  The  latter  had  lain  in  the  sled 
for  many  miles — just  tuckered  out.  From  Candle  to  the  Tim- 
ber road-house  this  team  traveled  140  miles  without  a  stop  and 
the  driver  states  that  he  never  got  into  the  sled  except  to  ride 
his  brake  when  going  do\vn  steep  hills.  The  second  team, 
driven  by  Jake  Berger,  made  the  36  miles  from  Solomon  to 
Nome  in  4  hours,  that  is.  at  an  average  speed  of  9  miles  per 
hour. 

The  winner  arrived  after  midnight.  The  whole  town  was 
agog  and  Front  street  was  closely  lined  with  the  crowd  for  a 
mile  long.  The  air  was  fifteen  degrees  below  zero,  but  that 
was  not  noticed.  The  winning  driver  arrived  hatless,  without 
a  coat,  with  his  thin  alpaca  shirt  thrown  open,  exposing  his 
neck  and  shoulders  to  the  freezing  midnight  air,  arms  bared 
above  the  elbows,  braces  hanging  loose,  his  face  red  and  per- 
spiration rolling  down,  the  steam  of  it  being  visible  in  the  frosty 
atmosphere  for  three  or  four  feet  above  his  head — he  was  a 
sight !  Completely  exhausted,  he  seemed  dazed  when  the  long 
rush  was  ended.  On  his  feet  he  wore  mukluks.  the  native 
boots  made  of  seal-skin  and  soled  with  walrus  hide.  His  hands 
were  bare,  the  gloves  and  fur-coat  lying  in  the  sled.  It  was  a 
famous  race,  and  the  tale  of  it  will  long  be  told  by  many  a 
camp-fire  in  the  North. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 
THE  THREE  SWEDES. 

The  story  of  the  gold  discoveries  that  made  Nome  famous 
constitutes  one  of  the  great  tales  of  mining.  No  flimsy  romance 
is  needed  to  decorate  the  facts  and  no  mythological  frills  are 
required  to  enhance  the  results.  The  first  discovery  of  gold 
made  by  white  men  was  in  1888  when  King  and  Green,  who 
found  the  Omalik  silver  mine  on  Fish  river,  panned  fine  gold 
on  the  bars  of  Fish  river.  But  they  did  nothing  further  to  test 
the  value  of  this  placer.  In  1894  Joe  Hansen,  who  later  made 
a  fortune  at  Dawson,  went  with  two  natives  up  the  Fish  river, 
and  then  up  the  Niukluk,  above  Casadepaga,  and  finding  more 
gold,  came  back  for  lumber  to  make  sluice-boxes.  Returning 
to  the  coast,  he  got  word  from  a  partner  telling  him  of  dis- 
coveries on  the  Klondike ;  thereupon  he  left  for  the  upper 
Yukon.  This  Norwegian  was  named  Johannson,  a  name  easily 
corrupted  by  his  American  friends  to  Joe  Hansen.  He  deserves 
to  be  properly  recorded  in  the  archives  of  the  North,  for  not 
only  did  he  make  one  of  the  first  discoveries  of  gold,  but  he 
also  taught  the  Eskimo  on  the  Niukluk  how  to  pan.  That  was 
a  lesson  fruitful  in  results ;  he  deserves  to  be  styled  Professor. 

Another  important  figure  was  John  A.  Dexter,  a  trader  on 
Golofnin  bay,  who  encouraged  the  natives  to  pan  the  gold  of 
the  creeks  when  on  their  fishing  and  hunting  trips.  Finally,  in 
August  1897,  an  Eskimo,  named  Tom  Guarick,  found  gold  on 
Ophir  creek  and  reported  the  fact  to  Dexter,  showing  him  half 
an  ounce  of  gold,  which  he  had  panned.  Only  a  month  later  a 
party  of  prospectors  came  to  Golofnin  bay  from  St.  Michael. 
They  had  come  from  California  under  a  grub-stake  agreement 
with  capitalists  at  San  Francisco.  Being  shown  the  gold  at 


328  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Dexter 's  store,  they  secured  Tom  as  a  guide  and  were  taken 
by  him  to  the  place  on  Ophir  creek  where  this  Eskimo  had 
made  a  discovery. 

This  party  of  prospectors  consisted  of  Daniel  B.  Libby,  H. 
L.  Blake,  A.  P.  Mordaunt,  and  Louis  S.  Melsing,  under  the 
leadership  of  Libby,  who  knew  something  about  the  country, 
having  been  there  with  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  expedi- 
tion in  1866  and  1867.  When  a  young  man  of  25,  he  had  charge 
of  the  Port  Clarence  station  and  in  the  fall  of  1866  he  had 
crossed  the  Seward  Peninsula  with  Otto  von  Bendeleben.  At 
that  time  they  had  detected  the  presence  of  gold  in  the  gravel 
of  the  Niukluk  river;  when,  therefore  the  Klondike  excite- 
ment broke  out  he  organized  a  party  to  test  the  value  of  the 
discovery,  made  30  years  earlier.  Landing  at  Golofnin  bay,  he 
was  just  in  time  to  be  told  of  the  Eskimo's  find  and  promptly 
utilized  the  information,  in  the  manner  narrated.  Besides  Ophir 
creek,  they  found  gold  in  a  neighboring  valley  called  Melsing 
creek,  christened  after  one  of  their  own  party.  Other  pros- 
pectors came  on  the  ground,  for  the  whole  of  Alaska  was  get- 
ting the  benefit  of  the  interest  excited  by  the  Klondike  rush, 
and  men  continued  to  arrive  from  St.  Michael.  Thereupon,  in 
accordance  with  the  established  custom  of  American  mining 
regions,  a  district  was  organized  and  a  Recorder  duly  elected 
on  April  25,  1898.  The  district  was  named  Eldorado,  the  organ- 
izers being  the  four  prospectors  already  mentioned,  as  well  as 
A.  N.  Kittleson,  who  had  been  in  charge  of  the  reindeer  station 
at  Port  Clarence,  N.  0.  Hultberg,  a  missionary  of  Golofnin  bay, 
P.  H.  Anderson,  a  missionary-teacher  from  the  same  station,  and 
John  A.  Dexter  himself.  As  we  shall  see,  missionaries  and 
reindeer  furnished  local  color  to  the  romance  of  the  Seward 
Peninsula. 

The  first  exchange  of  gold  dust  for  provisions  was  made  by 
Nate  Vestal,  an  old  Montana  miner  working  at  the  mouth  of 
Sweetcake  creek,  and  II.  T.  Harding,  at  Council,  in  August 
1808.  Council  was  the  settlement  established  on  the  Niukluk 
at  this  time.  About  $75,000  worth  of  gold  was  won  in  the  first 
season,  but,  the  news  of  the  diggings  on  Ophir  and  Melsing 
creeks  did  not  go  far.  so  there  was  no  stampede.  At  that  time 


330  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

wild  stories  of  gold  discovery  had  become  so  frequent  that 
they  had  ceased  to  excite. 

In  June  1898,  a  party,  consisting  of  J.  L.  Haggaliu,  John 
Brynteson,  Christopher  Kimber,  H.  L.  Blake,  and  N.  0.  Hult- 
berg  left  Council  on  an  expedition,  prompted  by  a  report  that 
coarse  gold  had  been  found  on  the  Sinrock,  or  Sinuk,  river  by 
a  reindeer-herder.  Leaving  Golofnin  bay  in  a  small  boat  on 
July  2,  1898,  they  were  driven  by  a  storm  to  take  shelter  in 
the  estuary  of  the  Snake  river,  close  to  the  present  site  of  Nome. 
This  party  of  prospectors  went  up  the  Snake  as  far  as  Anvil 
creek  and  found  some  gold,  but  not  enough  to  justify  locations. 
They  prospected  on  what  was  afterward  No.  5  Below,  but  their 
work  was  of  a  desultory  nature  on  account  of  a  rain-storm  then 
prevailing.  This  was  on  July  26.  Returning  to  the  coast,  they 
went  to  the  Sinuk,  where  nothing  was  found.  So  they  retraced 
their  steps  to  Council. 

Brynteson  and  Hultberg  were  probably  the  first  to  find  gold 
in  the  Nome  district,  for  they  found  some  gold  at  the  time  wrhen 
the  first  party  went  up  the  Snake,  and  they  related  the  fact  on 
their  return  to  Golofnin  bay,  where  Hultberg  was  stationed  as 
head  of  the  Swedish  mission.  Another  result  of  the  unsuccess- 
ful expedition  was  that  Brynteson  determined  to  go  to  Anvil 
creek  later  in  the  same  year,  accompanied  by  Lindeberg  and 
Lindblom.  Here  we  turn  to  a  page  vivid  with  human  achieve- 
ment. Lindeberg,  Lindblom,  and  Brynteson  are  known  as  "the 
three  lucky  Swedes"  and  the  story  of  their  discovery  of  gold, 
with  the  litigation  that  followed,  is  the  iliad  of  Nome. 

John  Brynteson,  a  native  of  Sweden,  was  an  experienced 
coal  and  iron  miner,  who  had  worked  for  seven  years  in  the 
iron  mines  of  Michigan.  Determining  to  go  to  Alaska  and  searcli 
for  coal,  he  reached  St.  Michael.  Shortly  afterward  he  directed 
work  at  the  coal  mine  on  Norton  Sound  operated  by  the  Swed- 
ish mission  at  Unalakleet,  then  in  charge  of  Haggalin. 

Erik  ().  Lindblom,  another  Swede,  for  several  years  <i  tailor 
in  San  Francisco,  hearing  of  fabulous  gold  discoveries  on  Kot- 
xebuc  sound,  joined  in  that  stampede  and  came  north  on  the 
bark  Aliixh-u.  Arriving  at  Port  Clarence,  and  hearing  of  the 


332  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Ophir  creek  excitement,  he  left  the  ship  and  found  his  way  by 
the  coast  to  Golofnin  bay,  and  thence  to  Council. 

Jafet  Lindeberg,  a  Norwegian,  came  to  Alaska  as  one  of  the 
men  in  charge  of  the  reindeer  herd  brought  by  Dr.  Sheldon 
Jackson  at  the  instance  of  the  United  States  Government  in 
1898.  He  was  to  have  gone  to  Plover  Bay,  in  northeast  Siberia 
to  relieve  Captain  Kelly,  who  was  trading  at  that  place  for 
reindeer  in  behalf  of  the  U.  S.  Government.  Arriving  at  St. 
Michael,  news  came  to  Jackson  that  Kelly  had  been  driven 
from  Plover  Bay  by  hostile  natives,  whereupon,  it  being  deemed 
unwise  for  Lindeberg  to  go  to  Plover  Bay,  he  was  released  from 
the  service  of  the  Government.  Then  he  also  went  to  the  new 
diggings  on  the  Niukluk,  going  first  to  Council. 

Thus  these  three  men  chanced  to  meet  at  Council  City  in 
August  1898.  Bryntesoii  was  then  40  years  of  age,  Lindblom 
was  30,  while  Lindeberg  was  a  young  fellow  of  21.  While  pros- 
pecting in  the  vicinity,  they  also  learned  the  mining  laws ;  for 
by  that  time  the  district  was  organized  and  had  established 
regulations,  one  of  which  was  the  right  of  location  by  an  agent 
or  attorney  in  fact.  Going  to  the  Ophir  diggings,  they  found 
the  creek  pretty  well  covered  with  locations  but  not  much  work 
was  in  progress  because  the  gravel  was  considered  rather  poor. 
They  panned  enough  to  get  an  idea  of  the  yield  requisite  to 
make  operation  profitable.  Harry  L.  Blake  offered  to  let  them 
work  and  take  $20  per  day,  giving  him  25%  of  any  surplus. 
This  was  on  Xo.  4  Above.  But  they  had  formed  a  "prospect- 
ing companionship"  (as  Lindeberg  phrases  it)  and  decided  to 
search  for  gold  over  a  wider  territory,  where  there  were  fewer 
people.  The  Council  district  was  now  over-run  by  'stampeders' 
and  the  country  was  staked  "to  the  mountain  tops."  Return- 
ing to  Golofnin  bay,  the  three  procured  a  large  open  boat, 
stocked  her  with  provisions,  and  set  sail  on  September  11.  1898, 
on  a  quest  that  proved  eventful.  Proceeding  up  the  coast  they 
stopped  at  the  mouths  of  the  various  rivers  in  order  to  prospect, 
but  finding  nothing  noteworthy  they  reached  the  site  of  Nome, 
where  the  Snake  river  flows  into  Bering  Sea.  Noting  its  ser- 
pentine channel,  they  named  it  appropriately.  Ascending  this 
stream  in  their  boat,  they  finally  camped  at  the  mouth  of 


THE  THREE  SWEDES. 


Glacier  creek,  where  Brynteson  had  found  gold  on  the  occasion 
of  his  previous  journey  to  this  region.  Then  the  three  tested 
the  various  creeks,  including  Anvil,  Snow,  Rock,  Dry,  Dexter, 
and  Glacier,  besides  several  (such  as  Sunset  and  Buster)  creeks 


A  TEAM  OF  HUSKIES. 

on  which  they  made  no  locations.  It  is  one  of  the  remarkable 
facts  in  mining  history  that  the  hasty  exploratory  work  of 
these  three  men,  comparative  novices  as  they  were  in  prospect- 
ing for  gold,  should  have  resulted  in  the  selection  of  what 
proved  later  to  be  the  richest  portions  of  the  several  creeks. 


334         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Lindeberg  states  that  they  found  gold  in  payable  quantity  on 
Anvil,  Snow,  Glacier,  Rock,  and  Dry  creeks.  He  says :  ' '  We 
proceeded  to  locate  claims,  first  on  Anvil  creek,  because  we 
found  better  prospects  on  that  creek  than  on  the  others ;  there- 
fore we  located  the  'discovery'  claim  there  in  the  names  of  us 
three  jointly.  In  addition  to  this,  each  one  of  us  staked  a  sep- 
arate claim  in  his  own  name  on  the  creek.  This  was  the  cus- 
tom in  Alaska,  as  it  was  conceded  that  the  discoverer  was  en- 
titled to  a  discovery  claim  and  one  other." 

And  they  located  with  rare  judgment.  The  three  original 
claims  staked  by  them  on  Anvil  proved  to  be  the  best.  On 
Dexter  they  staked  No.  8,  5,  and  3 ;  of  these,  No.  8  was  the  best 
of  the  three,  although  not  the  richest  on  that  creek.  No.  5  and 
3  also  proved  good.  On  Snow  gulch  they  got  No.  1,  2,  and  3 ; 
these  three  claims  proved  the  only  rich  ones  on  that  creek.  On 
Rock  they  located  No.  2,  3,  and  5- — undoubtedly  the  best  on  that 
creek.  On  Dry  they  got  No.  3,  4,  and  5,  all  above  discovery. 
The  Discovery  claim  was  located  by  G.  W.  Price.  For  the  pres- 
ent it  suffices  to  compliment  the  three  on  their  skill  as  pros- 
pectors and  to  record  the  fact  that  all  the  claims  they  located 
were  subsequently  consolidated  under  the  name  of  the  Pioneer 
Mining  Company  of  Seattle. 

The  missionaries  were  not  without  enterprise.  The  three 
located  No.  9  Anvil  in  the  name  of  an  Eskimo.  To  ensure  title 
the  claim  was  re-located  in  the  name  of  Gabe  Price's  brother 
and  by  him  deeded  to  P.  II.  Anderson,  then  in  charge  of  the 
Swedish  mission  on  Golofnin  bay.  He  took  out  about  $800,000 
gross  or  about  $500,000  net,  but  he  claimed  the  gold  for  him- 
self. Judgment  was  obtained  by  the  Mission  against  him  for 
$250.000,  it  being  held  that  he  had  the  property  in  trust.  An- 
other incident  of  a  more  creditable  kind  was  the  locating  of 
No.  35  Ophir  by  Carlson,  head  of  the  Unalakleet  mission  :  he  sold 
the  claim  for  $5000  in  behalf  of  the  mission.  Later  this  claim 
yielded  over  $1,500,000.  It  will  be  noted  that  by  reason  of 
Swedish  missionary  work  among  the  Eskimo  and  the  introduc- 
tion of  reindeers  by  the  Government,  the  Scandinavians  figure 
largely  in  the  story  of  gold  discovery  on  the  Seward  Penin- 
sula. Manx'  of  them  were  not  naturalized  citixens  of  tin;  United 


336  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

States,  and  this  fact  was  used  as  an  excuse  for  an  attempt  to 
despoil  them  of  their  mining  claims,  leading  to  an  era  of  gross 
political  and  judicial  jobbery. 

On  the  return  of  the  prospectors  to  Council,  in  October,  the 
news  quickly  spread  and  caused  a  rush.  A  party  was  organized 
by  the  three  Scandinavians,  together  with  A.  N.  Kittleson,  G.  \V. 
Price,  and  P.  H.  Anderson.  Upon  their  arrival  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Snake  river,  on  October  18,  a  meeting  was  held,  the  Cape 
Nome  district  was  formed,  and  A.  N.  Kittleson  was  elected  re- 
corder. Although  the  summer  season  was  now  ended  and  it  was 
therefore  too  late  for  surface  mining,  there  was  time  to  stake 
claims.  This  was  done  without  limit.  That  iniquitous  fiction 
known  as  'power  of  attorney'  was  used  so  recklessly  that  7000 
acres  of  rich  placer  ground  was  staked  by  not  more  than  40 
men.  Only  about  30  claims  were  located  by  the  original  dis- 
coverers, for  themselves  and  for  their  friends,  and  by  the  second 
party,  consisting  of  Kittleson,  Price,  and  Anderson ;  but  the 
reckless  use  of  powers  of  attorney  by  the  party  from  Council 
City,  or  the  Eldorado  district,  soon  plastered  the  region  with 
locations;  these  last  not  only  re-located  every  claim  that  had 
been  pegged  up  to  that  time,  but  they  located  on  new  creeks 
without  doing  any  work  to  ascertain  the  presence  of  gold. 
When  Blake,  Mordaunt,  Libby,  Melsing.  and  the  others  who  had 
done  the  first  gold  mining  on  the  Peninsula  learned  that  the 
'three  Swedes'  had  located  the  best  claims,  they  were  chagrined, 
for  the  Scandinavians  were  inexperienced  in  gold  mining  as 
compared  to  the  prospectors  whom  Dexter 's  Eskimo  retainer 
had  led  to  Ohpir  creek.  Thereupon  they  jumped  the  claims  of 
Lindeberg  and  his  partners  on  Anvil  creek  and  thereby  set  an 
example  that  was  promptly  followed  by  the  crowd  of  new- 
comers attracted  by  the  excitement.  In  consequence,  every 
original  claim  was  covered  two  and  three  deep  by  re-locations, 
preparing  the  way  for  endless  trouble  and  litigation.  This 
ended  in  anarchy. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
THE  GOLDEN  BEACHES  OF  NOME. 

To  dig  gold  from  a  sea-beach  seems  so  simple  a  form  of  min- 
ing as  to  be  highly  improbable,  and  yet  that  was  the  motive  to 
a  strange  drama  enacted  on  the  shore  of  Bering  Sea  in  1900. 

Natives  had  detected  gold  on  the  beach  long  before  the 
white  men  came.  They  had  reported  the  fact  to  Kogan,  the 
captain  of  a  whaling  ship,  who  traded  with  the  Eskimo  living 
on  Cape  Prince  of  Wales ;  but  he  paid  no  attention  to  the  story. 
In  August  1898,  a  prospector  named  Tom  Mulligan  found  gold 
on  the  shore  at  a  place  half  a  mile  east  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Sinuk  river,  30  miles  west  of  Nome.  He  found  enough  to  war- 
rant the  belief  that  he  could  make  wages,  that  is,  $8  to  $10  per 
day.  But  the  Anvil  creek  discoveries  diverted  him.  His  dis- 
covery was  made  known  to  the  thirty  men  who  were  camping 
on  the  Sinuk  that  winter,  and  they  planned  to  work  the  place 
during  the  following  summer,  but  the  wonderful  richness  of 
the  fringe  of  sand  in  front  of  Nome  led  to  the  abandonment  of 
their  plans. 

On  June  28,  1899,  a  soldier  found  gold  on  the  beach  at  Nome. 
He  belonged  to  the  small  representation  of  the  United  States 
army  brought  thither  by  the  threat  of  impending  disorder. 
This  soldier  used  to  pan  enough  gold  to  pay  for  an  extra  meal, 
but  the  first  "big  money"  was  taken  out  of  the  sand  by  Wil- 
liam Fee,  otherwise  known  as  Missouri  Bill,  and  his  partner, 
William  Cummins,  both  old  Yukoners.  This  was  on  August  1. 
The  astonishing  fact  soon  became  known.  All  the  idle  men, 
unable  to  find  work  owing  to  the  jumping  of  claims  on  the 
creeks  and  the  impending  litigation,  hastened  to  construct 
rockers  and  wash  the  golden  deposit  on  the  shore.  By  the  tenth 


338  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

day  of  August  fully  1500  men  were  at  work  on  the  beach ;  from 
being  'broke,'  they  were  winning  from  2  to  10  ounces  of  gold 
per  day.  "It  livened  the  town  considerable."  It  is  said  that 
the  highest  yield  from  a  day's  work  with  a  rocker  was  129 
ounces  of  gold,  which  was  a  clean-up  made  by  Missouri  Bill  and 
his  partner.  Within  three  days  silver  coins  disappeared  from 
circulation,  for  the  dollars  were  used  in  the  process  of  saving 
the  gold  by  means  of  amalgamation.  Gold  dust  became  the  sole 
medium  of  exchange.  Mercury  went  to  $5  per  pound.  All  the 
sheathing  on  the  boats  and  the  big  coffee  urns  in  the  restau- 
rants were  utilized  for  the  copper  needed  in  the  rockers  and 
long-toms.  Lumber  being  worth  $400  per  thousand,  the  dig- 
gers constructed  rockers  out  of  any  sort  of  material,  such  as 
the  boxes  in  which  the  condensed  milk  was  packed.  In  less 
than  two  months  2000  men  extracted  over  $1,000.000  from  the 
beach. 

The  method  of  mining  was  simple  indeed.  First  the  pros- 
pector tested  the  sand  by  washing  it  in  a  pan.  If  the  result  in- 
dicated that  he  had  found  a  rich  spot,  he  started  to  dig  a  hole, 
from  which  he  obtained  a  supply  of  gold-bearing  material. 
This  he  fed  into  a  'rocker'  or  'long-torn.'  two  devices  of  early 
origin.  The  'long-torn'  essentially  consists  of  an  inclined  sur- 
face over  which  the  gravel  or  sand  is  washed  by  water  fed  by 
hand.  From  6  to  10  feet  of  launder  or  sluice-box  is  set  at  an 
angle  steep  enough  to  permit  the  light  particles  to  be  washed 
away  while  allowing  the  gold  to  settle  on  the  bottom.  At  the 
head,  a  hopper  or  box  serves  to  hold  from  50  to  150  pounds  of 
material  which  is  flushed,  a  little  at  a  time,  down  the  slope,  by 
the  action  of  water  thrown  out  of  a  dipper  or  small  bucket 
fixed  to  a  handle.  To  arrest  the  gold,  cross-bars  or  riffles  are 
nailed  to  the  bottom  of  the  launder.  In  addition,  mercury  may 
be  employed,  or  even  amalgamated  copper  plate.  When  the 
latter  is  used  the  plate  is  covered  with  wire  screen  or  perforated 
sheet-iron,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  si/e  the  gravel,  causing  the 
larger  pebbles  to  slide  down  the  slope,  while  the  fine  stuff  sinks 
through  the  apertures  and  comes  in  contact  with  the  mercury 
and  amalgam.  The  'long-torn'  was  familiar  to  the  early  Cali- 
fornian  miners,  and  in  its  simplest  form  dates  back  to  the  very 


THE  GOLDEN  BEACHES  OF  NOME. 


339 


beginning  of  the  world-wide  search  for  gold.  In  order  to 
facilitate  the  process  of  concentration,  a  shaking  motion  was 
imparted,  merely  by  placing  the  inclined  sluice-box  or  launder 
upon  rockers.  This  constituted  the  'cradle,'  which  is  shorter 
and  more  compact  than  the  'long-torn,'  the  quicker  separation 
of  the  gold  rendering  unnecessary  a  long  surface. 

These  methods  are  still  in  vogue.  It  so  happened  that  dur- 
ing August  1908,  while  I  was  at  Nome,  there  was  a  sudden  in- 
crease of  beach  mining.  At  one  time  I  saw  more  than  100  men 
at  work.  The  beach  is  steep  and  forms  a  fringe  only  60  yards 


WORKERS   OX    NOME    BEACH,    1908. 


wide  between  the  tundra  and  the  tide.  The  scene  of  greatest 
activity  in  1908  was  in  front  of  the  town  itself,  under  the 
wharves  and  in  the  rear  of  the  houses.  As  the  beach  is  a  Gov- 
ernment reservation,  no  location  is  possible,  each  man  holding 
a  small  patch  of  ground  only  as  long  as  he  works  upon  it. 
Where  the  beach  had  been  found  most  productive,  the  long- 
toms  were  thick  and  the  workers  numerous,  but  without  any 
suggestion  of  disorder.  Each  man  knew  his  rights  and  forbore 
to  trespass.  The  apparatus  varied  according  to  the  means  of 
the  operator.  Most  of  the  long-toms  had  a  false  bottom  of  gal- 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


vanized  iron  or  else  tin-plate  torn  from  oil-cans.  This  is  punc- 
tured with  holes  so  as  to  act  as  a  screen  separating  the  fine 
stuff  from  the  coarse ;  the  latter  runs  down  the  slope  into  the 
sea,  on  the  edge  of  which  the  apparatus  is  erected.  The  fine 
sand,  including  the  particles  of  gold,  drops  through  the  false 
bottom  onto  amalgamating  plates.  These  are  of  copper,  usually 
silver-plated.  At  the  end  of  the  copper  plate  there  is,  ordi- 
narily, a  bit  of  carpet,  matting,  or  wire  netting  to  serve  as  a 
check  on  any  gold  or  amalgam  escaping  from  above.  At  the 
upper  end  of  the  box  or  launder,  the  sides  are  raised  or  a  hop- 
per is  constructed ;  into  this  the  sand  is  discharged  from  a 
bucket,  emptied  from  a  wheelbarrow,  or  shoveled  direct  from 
the  ground  that  is  being  exploited.  While  one  operator  attends 
to  this  part  of  the  work,  his  partner  is  furnishing  the  water  to 
wash  the  sand  down  the  incline,  standing  with  rubber  boots  in 
the  tide  and  swinging  a  ladle  consisting  of  a  bucket  fixed  to  a 
long  wooden  handle.  Sometimes,  for  convenience,  a  temporary 
dam  is  made  with  bags  of  sand,  forming  a  pool  which  is  re- 
newed by  the  waves  that  break  over  it  at  intervals.  Some  of 
the  contrivances  that  I  saw  were  pathetically  crude ;  in  one 
instance  a  small  strip  of  old  carpet  and  a  few  globules  of  mer- 
cury constituted  the  entire  gold-saving  system. 

A  more  systematic  arrangement  commonly  seen  on  the  beach 
is  a  series  of  6  to  10  sluice-boxes,  set  on  a  slope  so  that  the  -re- 
ject falls  into  the  sea  and  is  removed  by  the  tide.  The  boxes 
are  lined  with  woven  wire,  having  2  to  4  holes  per  square  inch, 
lying  upon  the  cocoa  matting  that  covers  the  bottom.  Mercury 
is  sprinkled  on  the  matting  by  shaking  it  from  a  bottle  through 
a  cloth  stopper.  In  order  to  expedite  operations  a  small  gaso- 
line engine  works  a  pump  to  supply  the  water  for  washing. 
The  intake  pipe  of  the  pump  rests  on  two  wheels  so  that  it  can 
be  withdrawn  during  stormy  weather  and  the  mouth  of  the 
pipe  is  protected  with  a  wire  net  to  shut  out  drift-wood. 

The  distribution  of  the  gold  is  erratic,  so  that  constant  pan- 
ning is  necessary  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  it  is  rich  enough 
to  be  profitably  worked.  Thus  I  saw  a  man,  shovel  in  hand, 
scrape  the  top  sand  to  one  side  and  then  dig  into  the  red  layer 
underneath.  Shoveling  about  20  pounds  of  this  stuff  into  his 


ON  THE   BEACH,   NOME,    1908. 


WASHING   GOLD-BEARING   SAND. 


342  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

pan,  he  walked  to  the  edge  of  the  sea,  dug  a  hole,  which,  be- 
coming filled  by  the  incoming  wave,  served  as  a  basin  in  which 
he  panned  the  sample.  He  obtained  three  "good  colors,"  that 
is,  three  particles  of  gold  worth  about  10  cents.  This  was  the 
first  gold  I  had  ever  seen  won  from  the  sea-shore,  although 
similar  deposits  are  known  in  Oregon  and  California,  in  Tierra 
del  Fuego,  and  also  off  the  west  coast  of  New  Zealand. 

The  gold  in  the  beach  at  Nome  is  the  result  of  a  natural  pro- 
cess of  concentration,  in  which  the  surf  is  the  final  agent.  The 
gold-bearing  material  thus  concentrated  is  derived  from  the 
rocks  of  the  coast,  the  gold  occurring  in  small  quartz  veins  in 
soft  schist,  which  is  the  prevailing  formation.  As  the  schist 
is  weathered  and  eroded,  the  softer  portions  are  swept  into 
the  streams  and  carried  by  them  far  out  to  sea,  while  the  shat- 
tered quartz  yields  particles  larger  than  silt  but  small  enough 
for  transport  by  running  water.  When  borne  to  the  mouths 
of  the  rivers  this  gold-bearing  quartz  gravel  meets  the  tide  and 
the  surf,  and  by  them  it  is  washed  to  and  fro,  until  the  heavier 
particles  are  thrown  in  a  narrow  band  at  the  upper  edge  of  the 
beach  where  it  is  topped  by  the  tundra.  Among  the  heavier 
particles  thus  deposited  is  the  gold,  wrhich,  by  disintegration  of 
the  quartz  that  contained  it,  has  been  released  and  now  in  the 
form  of  flakes  of  metal  lies  concentrated  in  a  fringe  along  the 
30  miles  of  Arctic  coast. 

In  the  hills  four  miles  north  of  Nome  are  found  quartz  veins, 
carrying  gold  and  traversing  the  soft  schist  similar  to  that 
which  in  a  former  period  yielded  the  material  for  the  beach 
placer.  Between  these  hills  and  the  beach,  a  coastal  plain  ex- 
tends, flat  and  undulating,  crossed  by  several  meandering 
streams  in  the  beds  of  which  gold-bearing  sand  is  found.  This 
coastal  plain  is  covered  with  the  tundra  or  Arctic  moss,  man- 
tling a  deposit  about  100  feet  thick  of  gravel  and  sand,  all  of 
which  is  gold-bearing,  although  not  all  of  it  is  rich  enough  to 
be  mined.  Only  where  concentrated  by  the  running  stream  or 
by  the  sea  is  the  deposit  enriched,  ruder  the  deposit  is  the 
rock,  either  soft  schist  or  limestone,  similar  to  the  formation 
observed  on  the  hillsides  to  the  north.  Approaching  the  sea  the 
surface  of  the  plain  slopes  gently  until  it  ends  in  an  escarpment 


THE  GOLDEN  BEACHES  OF  NOME. 


343 


or  abrupt  slope  only  10  to  15  feet  high.  At  the  foot  of  this  de- 
clivity the  beach  slopes  to  the  sea  at  an  angle  of  4  to  5  degrees, 
and  for  a  width  of  50  to  75  yards.  During  stormy  weather  the 
action  of  the  waves  extends  for  the  full  width  of  the  beach,  but 
ordinarily  such  action  is  restricted  to  the  lower  half  of  the 
shelving  strand. 

The  beach  is  composed  of  sand  and  shingle,  in  which  both 
the  quartz  and  the  schist  are  easily  recognized.  At  the  limit  of 
the  tide  a  reddish  band  is  noticeable.  This  is  the  celebrated 


THE  GOLDEN  BEACHES  OF  NOME. 

'ruby  sand'  of  the  miners.  On  examination  it  is  found  to  owe 
its  color  to  particles  of  garnet,  with  which  a  little  black  mag- 
netite is  also  present,  darkening  the  tint.  At  the  foot  of  the 
tundra,  that  is,  at  the  upper  edge  of  the  beach,  a  layer  of  clay 
can  be  detected,  dipping  under  the  ruby  sand.  This  clay  serves 
as  a  'false  bottom'  under  the  gold-bearing  garnetiferous  sand, 
and  upon  it  the  valuable  concentrate  has  been  deposited. 

By  digging  a  hole  into  the  beach,  it  can  be  ascertained  that 
below  the  covering  of  barren  gray  shingle  and  sand  is  a  layer 


344         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

of  ruby  sand  lying  on  clay.  The  clay  is  from  3  to  7  feet  deep ; 
the  gold-bearing  red  sand  is  from  6  inches  to  2  feet  thick ;  the 
fringe  that  represents  the  marine  concentration  is  from  a  few 
inches  to  three  or  four  feet  wide.  Sometimes  two  gold-bearing 
layers  exist,  separated  by  nearly  barren  sand.  As  the  deposit 
lies  on  the  bed  of  clay  the  dip  is  to\vard  the  sea.  The  flakes  of 
gold  are  small,  the  largest  weighing  one  pennyweight ;  these 
particles  of  metal  are  bright  and  amalgamate  freely,  although 
the  grains  of  quartz  associated  with  it  are  iron-stained.  About 
$5,000,000  has  been  won  from  this  beach  deposit. 

In  1899,  the  beach-workers  got  as  much  as  $5  to  $10  per 
pan;  and  even  with  the  roughest  contrivances,  of  the  kind  al- 
ready described,  some  individuals  in  one  summer  season  of  only 
four  months  took  $30,000  to  $40,000  from  the  diggings  on  the 
shore.  Today  a  man  can  still  make  $3  per  day  on  the  Nome 
beach.  Two  partners  told  me  that  they  had  made  $60  in  3  days. 
Another  operator  and  his  partner  got  S1/^  ounces  of  amalgam, 
yielding  a  little  over  an  ounce  of  gold,  on  the  day  previous. 
Storms  re-concentrate  the  sand  repeatedly;  the  appliances  re- 
quired are  cheap  and  easily  constructed.  It  is  a  poor  man's 
mine. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
ANARCHY  AT  NOME. 

No  account  of  Nome  is  complete  without  detailed  reference 
to  the  anarchy  that  prevailed  in  1900,  1901,  and  even  later. 
Owing  to  the  lax  administration  of  law,  due  to  the  unorganized 
condition  of  the  community  and  the  great  distance  from  the 
seat  of  national  government,  the  titles  to  mining  claims  were 
disputed  soon  after  the  three  Scandinavians  and  their  friends 
had  located  the  gravel  on  Anvil,  Dexter,  and  other  creeks  that 
proved  so  productive.  In  the  first  place,  the  method  of  making 
locations  was  careless ;  it  is  true  that  the  claims  located  in 
1898  by  the  discoverers  and  the  party  who  organized  the  Nome 
district  were  marked  with  six  stakes,  and  although  such  stakes 
were  small,  being  made  from  willow  brush,  they  indicated  an 
intention  to  conform  with  the  legal  requirements.  But  this 
good  example  was  not  generally  followed ;  it  soon  became  the 
custom,  in  marking  a  claim,  to  take  a  sprig  of  scrub-willow, 
blaze  it,  cut  off  the  top,  and  split  it.  In  the  cleft  was  lodged 
the  paper  giving  notice  of  location ;  then  two  end  stakes  were 
placed  1320  feet  apart,  up  and  down  stream,  fixing  the  centre 
line  of  the  claim;  from  this  line  330  feet  on  each  side  was 
assumed,  so  that  an  area  of  20  acres  was  delimited.  No  stakes 
were  placed  at  the  corners.  This  perfunctory  procedure  be- 
came the  recognized  custom  early  in  1899  and  was  respected 
on  account  of  the  lack  of  such  timber  as  wras  needed  for  com- 
plete legal  marking  of  boundaries.  Other  than  the  scrub- 
willow  there  was  no  possible  source  of  timber  except  the  drift- 
wood on  the  beach  four  or  five  miles  distant.  During  the  sum- 
mer of  1899  prospectors  began  to  mark  their  corners  with  sticks 
of  crooked  willow  and  even  drift-wood;  but  these,  being  stuck 
into  frozen  ground,  were  apt  to  fall  down,  and  as  they  were 
rarely  supported  by  a  mound  there  was  a  tendency  for  boun- 


3-16  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

daries  to  become  questionable,  especially  when  the  pencil-marks 
on  the  location-notice  became  obliterated  by  the  sap  of  the 
wood  enclosing  the  paper. 

In  September  of  that  year  the  big  rush  to  Dawson,  in  Can- 
ada, caused  many  locators  to  depart  for  the  Klondike  diggings, 
and  in  their  absence  the  claims  were  'jumped'  by  newcomers, 
whose  title  in  turn  was  disregarded  by  later  claim-jumpers. 
Thus  extreme  confusion  of  title  prevailed.  Most  of  the  people 
attracted  by  the  excitement  on  the  creeks  near  Nome  were 
ignorant  of  mining  and  of  mining  regulations;  yet  some  of 
them  had  sufficient  education  to  undertake  to  interpret  the  law 
against  the  Scandinavians  and  others  having  no  experience  in 
such  matters.  A  few  really  experienced  miners,  disgusted  to 
see  the  best  ground  gobbled  by  the  lucky  Swedes  and  Nor- 
wegians, sailors  and  reindeer-herders,  took  it  upon  themselves 
to  over-ride  the  law,  as  they  themselves  knew  it,  by  jumping 
some  of  the  best  claims  on  Anvil  creek.  This  gave  a  lead  to 
the  mob  that  was  then  arriving  from  the  States.  Among  them 
were  many  lawless  individuals  and,  worst  of  all,  a  number  of 
unscrupulous  lawyers.  These,  uniting,  soon  brought  Nome  to 
the  verge  of  riot.  A  few  Northwest  Mounted  Police  or  an 
honest  Commissioner  backed  by  his  Government,  as  at  Dawson, 
would  have  put  an  end  to  the  trouble ;  but  Nome  was  not  Daw- 
son  ;  Nome  was  in  Alaska,  neither  a  State  nor  a  Territory,  but 
a  'district'  governed  from  Washington,  5500  miles  distant;  the 
nearest  United  States  commissioner  was  at  St.  Michael,  more 
than  100  miles  away;  there  was  no  means  of  enforcing  the  civil 
law.  It  is  true  a  small  detachment  of  soldiers  had  been  sent 
from  St.  Michael  in  the  spring  of  1899,  and  upon  the  young 
lieutenant  in  command  of  this  handful  of  soldiers  devolved  the 
duty  of  maintaining  order  among  a  crowd  of  angry  men  ;  but 
he  could  not  do  much,  for  he  had  no  legal  authority.  Unfor- 
tunately, he  exceeded  what  little  authority  he  had  by  dispers- 
ing a  proper  meeting  of  miners  and  thereby  permitted  the  idea 
to  spread  that  he  had  taken  sides.  Finally,  on  July  13,  the 
military  issued  an  order  stating  that  all  disputes  over  claims 
were  to  be  brought  before  the  civil  authorities,  neither  dis- 
putant being  allowed  to  do  any  work  pending  a  settlement. 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 


This  only  made  matters  worse,  for  it  meant  that  practically 
every  claim  would  remain  idle  and  thousands  of  men  would  be 
thrown  out  of  work  in  a  region  where  the  cost  of  living  was 
abnormally  high.  Moreover,  it  was  unfair  to  many  bona  fide 
owners  who  had  been  victimized  by  irresponsible  claim-jump- 
ers. To  meet  the  demands  of  the  situation,  the  military  order 
was  modified. 

But  relief  came  suddenly  in  another  way.  In  June  gold 
was  discovered  on  the  beach  at  Nome  and  the  mutterings  of 
discontent  were  silenced  in  the  excitement  of  profitable  dig- 
ging along  the  water-front.  According  to  United  States  law  a 
strip  60  feet  wide  of  the  shore  is  the  property  of  the  Govern- 
ment. Thus  there  was  no  title  save  that  of  Uncle  Sam.  A 
company,  which  had  obtained  control  of  a  number  of  claims 
on  the  edge  of  the  tundra  so  as  to  cover  the  beach,  claimed 
ownership  and  proceeded  to  exact  a  royalty  of  50  cents  per 
day  for  the  right  to  mine  on  the  sea-shore.  The  miners  ob- 
jected, the  military  were  invoked,  and  several  hundred  men 
were  marched  off  the  beach.  But  there  was  no  magistrate  to 
try  them,  no  jail  to  hold  them,  and  no  funds  to  provide  for 
them  pending  a  trial,  so  the  perplexed  officer  in  command  of 
the  troops  had  to  release  them ;  whereupon  they  returned 
promptly  to  the  work  on  the  beach. 

During  this  time  the  trouble  on  the  creeks  simmered,  pend- 
ing further  developments.  In  the  winter  of  1899  the  matter 
was  brought  to  the  attention  of  Congress  and  on  June  6,  1900. 
an  act  was  passed  creating  a  new  judicial  district  for  the 
Seward  Peninsula.  The  newly  appointed  judge  and  his  court 
officials  arrived  at  Nome  early  in  the  summer  of  1900.  Here 
we  must  leave  the  current  of  events  in  order  to  make  a  few 
necessary  explanations. 

The  mining  law  of  the  United  States  requires  the  discovery 
of  mineral  on  the  ground  located :  in  most  cases  the  gold  lay 
on  bedrock  at  a  depth  of  ten  or  twenty  feet  beneath  the  surface 
of  the  gravel ;  and  yet  some  men  staked  a  do/en  or  more  claims 
in  the  course  of  two  or  three  days.  Moreover,  none  but  citizens 
or  those  who  have  declared  their  intention  to  become  citizens 
have  the  right  to  make  locations:  vet  manv  of  the  richest 


ANARCHY  AT  NOME. 


349 


claims  were  taken  up  by  aliens,  but  in  such  cases  the  question 
of  ownership  could  not  be  raised  against  the  claimant  by  any- 
one except  the  United  States  government,  whose  land  was  thus 
pre-empted.  A  citizen  has  no  right  to  jump  a  claim  located  by 
an  alien  until  such  time  as  the  Government  ejects  the  latter. 
Furthermore,  many  claims  were  taken  up  under  the  cloak  of 
that  legal  fiction  called  'power  of  attorney,'  by  virtue  of  which 
a  man  locates  half  a  dozen  claims  in  the  name  first  of  himself, 
and  then  of  his  father,  brothers,  and  mother-in-law's  relatives, 


A    MINE   ON   THE   TUNDRA,    NEAR   NOME. 

until  a  whole  creek  deposit  has  been  blanketed.  On  top  of  all 
these  complexities  add  unscrupulous  lawyers  eager  to  make 
matters  worse,  and  it  is  easy  to  imagine  what  a  devil's  cauldron 
of  litigation  was  brewed. 

In  the  next  scene  the  chief  actor  is  a  corrupt  judge  and  his 
satellites,  backed  by  equally  corrupt  United  States  senators, 
under  the  leadership  of  one  of  those  predatory  financiers  who 
have  been  the  curse  of  American  industry.  It  was  a  gigantic 
conspiracy,  the  inner  workings  of  Avhich  were  finally  dissected 
and  exposed  in  the  courts. 

During  the  early  part  of  1900,  while  Congress  was  engaged 


350  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

in  drafting  a  code  of  laws  for  Alaska,  the  ownership  of  many 
of  the  richest  placer  claims  in  the  Nome  region  was  in  question, 
and  many  lawsuits  over  titles  were  pending,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  a  majority  of  the  best  claims  had  been  originally  located 
by  illiterate  aliens;  Nome  was  far  away;  here  was  a  great 
opportunity  for  those  to  whom  legislation  is  a  financial  game. 
Three  local  lawyers  saw  the  chance ;  one  of  them  went  post- 
haste to  Washington.  There  he  enlisted  the  cupidity  of  sev- 
eral senators  and  one  political  boss,  Alexander  McKenzie,  a 
Scotch-Irishman  who  had  risen  to  wealth  and  power  in  North 
Dakota,  becoming  Republican  leader  in  the  days  when  Mark 
Hanna  dominated  McKinley.  Hubbard,  a  lawyer  from  Nome, 
and  Chipps,  who  had  jumped  one  of  Lindeberg's  richest  claims, 
joined  with  McKenzie  in  organizing  the  Alaska  Gold  Mining 
Company,  capitalized  at  $15,000,000  under  the  laws  of  Alaska, 
49  per  cent  of  the  stock  being  set  aside  to  pay  for  the  so-called 
title  of  the  'jumpers,'  while  51  per  cent  was  intended  for  dis- 
tribution among  McKenzie 's  political  and  financial  'friends,' 
by  whom  the  nefarious  scheme  was  to  be  backed  in  Congress 
and  supported  on  Wall  Street.  The  plan  was  to  obtain  title 
to  the  rich  claims,  which  had  been  jumped,  either  by  act  of 
Congress  or  by  decisions  of  the  local  court  established  at  Nome 
and  under  the  thumb  of  the  gang.  Even  if  the  rightful  owners 
fought  against  confiscation,  the  mines  would  be  placed  in  a  re- 
ceiver's hands,  the  receiver  to  be  appointed  by  the  judge  whom 
McKenzie  had  hired,  and  thus  while  the  litigation  was  pending 
the  gold  would  be  garnered  and  sent  to  New  York  for  exhibi- 
tion with  a  view  to  selling  the  stock  of  the  Alaska  Gold  Mining 
Company  at  such  prices  as  would  enrich  all  concerned.  In 
order  to  accomplish  this  purpose  the  judge  at  Nome  had  to  be 
perfectly  pliant.  He  was.  His  name  was  Arthur  II.  Noyes. 
"He  did  the  rest."  If  the  scheme  failed  it  was  because  a  few 
resolute  men  fought  like  a  moose  at  bay.  fought  so  courageously 
and  persistently  that  the  scandal  was  finally  exposed. 

A  bill  providing  civil  government  for  Alaska  was  passed 
by  Congress  on  June  6,  1900,  and  at  the  same  time  a  code  of 
laws  was  enacted,  under  which  the  district  judges  were  given 
unusual  powers.  This  bill  as  originally  reported  to  the  Senate 


ANARCHY  AT  NOME. 


351 


provided  that  the  laws  of  the  United  States  relating  to  mining 
claims  and  mineral  locations  should  be  extended  to  Alaska. 
Numerous  decisions  of  the  courts  had  held  that  under  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  the  citizenship  of  a  locator  of  a  mining 
claim  could  not  be  questioned  by  anyone  save  the  Government ; 
thereupon,  while  the  bill  was  under  discussion  in  the  Senate, 
Hansborough,  the  senator  from  North  Dakota,  proposed  an 
amendment  to  make  it  illegal  for  aliens  to  locate  or  to  hold 
mining  claims  in  the  District  of  Alaska,  thereby  permitting 


IN   A   DRIFT    MINE. 

litigants  to  raise  the  question  of  alien  ownership.  The  amend- 
ment was  also  made  retroactive,  declaring  null  and  void  the 
title  to  claims  located  by  an  agent  or  attorney  in  fact.  Finally, 
by  declaring  illegal  all  transfers  of  claims  so  located,  the 
amendment  destroyed  the  property  rights  acquired  by  pur- 
chase. This  last  little  'joker'  was  aimed  at  Charles  D.  Lane, 
who  had  acquired  many  claims,  and  was  one  of  the  leaders  of 
the  opposition.  Lane  was  at  the  head  of  the  Wild  Goose  Min- 
ing &  Trading  Co. ;  Lindeberg  was  president  of  the  Pioneer 


352  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Mining  Co. ;  these  two  companies  had  consolidated  the  richest 
claims  on  Anvil,  Ophir,  and  other  notable  creeks.  Several  men 
hastened  from  Nome  to  Washington  to  explain  what  the  effect 
of  this  enactment  would  be.  Of  course,  it  was  unconstitutional, 
but  that  did  not  deter  the  conspirators  nor  help  the  rightful 
owners,  for  before  it  could  be  declared  unconstitutional  by  the 
Supreme  Court,  the  mines  would  be  gutted.  Additional  proof 
of  the  conspiracy  at  Washington  is  afforded  by  the  following 
fact :  When  the  Senate  committee  on  Territories  had  under 
consideration  the  law  regulating  appeals  from  the  Alaska 
courts,  Senator  Carter  insisted  that  a  provision  in  the  law 
allowing  appeals  from  orders  appointing  receivers  should  be 
stricken  out,  and  this  was  done,  over  the  protest  of  two  attor- 
neys from  Alaska  who  did  not  represent  the  Nome  country  and 
knew  nothing  of  the  conspiracy.  However,  later,  a  special 
statute  allowing  such  appeals  was,  at  the  very  end  of  the 
session,  passed  by  Congress.  Evidently  the  conspirators  were 
caught  napping.  Fortunately,  the  dangerous  character  of  the 
Alaska  legislation  Avas  appreciated  by  several  leaders  in  Con- 
gress, such  as  Spooner,  Nelson,  Jones,  and  Stewart  in  the 
Senate ;  these  men  obtained  sufficient  support  and  the  amend- 
ment was  killed.  Thus  the  mining  regulations  of  Colorado, 
California,  and  the  other  States  became  applicable  to  Alaska, 
and  McKenzie's  gang  had  to  depend  upon  over-riding  the  laws 
by  means  of  a  corrupt  judge.  The  scene  was  shifted  to  the 
court  of  the  Second  District  at  Nome. 

On  July  19,  1900,  Noyes  and  the  officials  of  the  Court 
reached  Nome.  On  the  same  steamer  was  McKenzie.  Among 
his  schemes  was  the  Golden  Sands  Mining  Company,  which 
claimed  title  to  the  shore  and  tried  to  eject  the  beach-workers, 
as  already  described,  under  an  interpretation  of  the  law  given 
by  Noyes  in  open  disregard  of  the  statute.  On  July  23,  before 
the  Court  was  organized  and  before  the  filing  of  any  paper 
of  any  kind  with  the  clerk  of  the  Court.  Noyes  appointed  Mc- 
Kenzie receiver  of  a  number  of  mines  the  titles  to  which  were 
disputed,  giving  him  instructions  to  take  immediate  possession, 
with  permission  to  operate  the  mines,  and  hold  the  proceeds 
subject  only  to  the  Court's  order.  The  defendants  were1  or- 


ANARCHY  AT  NOME. 


353 


dered  to  yield  possession  at  once  and  were  enjoined  from  inter- 
fering with  the  management  of  the  mines.  In  each  case  the 
receiver's  bond  was  fixed  at  $5000,  although  the  output  of  gold 
from  any  one  of  the  mines  was  worth  more  than  that  in  a  single 
day.  All  this  was  done  in  impudent  disregard  of  the  law, 
without  citing  the  defendants,  who  were  taken  completely  by 
surprise.  As  the  jumpers'  titles  were  largely  vested  in  Mc- 
Kenzie  by  this  time,  it  is  not  necessary  to  comment  on  the 
Judge's  action  in  appointing  him,  one  of  the  litigants,  as  re- 


NOME    IN   WINTER. 

ceiver.  The  next  day  the  lawyers  for  the  Scandinavians  and 
for  Lane  appeared  before  Noyes  praying  for  a  hearing.  He  re- 
fused. They  then  asked  for  an  appeal ;  again  he  refused.  "The 
Court  claimed,  in  effect,  that  its  jurisdiction  in  the  matter  was 
exclusive."  All  this  took  time.  Meanwhile  McKenzie  had 
hired  all  the  men  available  and  was  gutting  the  mines.  On 
July  25  Noyes  issued  a  further  order  empowering  the  receiver 
and  his  hirelings  to  seize  everything  on  the  mines,  inclusive  of 
personal  property  and  gold  extracted  from  other  mines.  Con- 
cerning this  order  the  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  at  San  Fran- 


354  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

cisco  stated,  at  a  later  date,  that  it  was  "so  arbitrary  and  un- 
warranted in  law  as  to  baffle  the  mind  in  its  effort  to  compre- 
hend how  it  could  have  been  issued  from  a  court  of  justice." 
But  as  Alaska  was  neither  a  Territory  nor  a  State,  and  there 
being  no  official  higher  than  this  Federal  judge,  who  promul- 
gated edicts  like  those  of  a  South  American  dictator,  the  people 
of  Nome  had  a  taste  of  anarchy  in  America.  It  was  the  com- 
plete subjection  of  law  and  the  domination  of  piracy. 

Meanwhile  the  nearest  Court  of  Appeals  was  3000  miles 
away  and  the  gold  was  near.  McKenzie  or  one  of  his  men  was 
made  receiver  under  twenty  different  injunctions,  the  owners 
of  the  claims  being  refused  permission  to  be  present  at  the 
clean-ups  or  to  exercise  any  sort  of  protection  against  whole- 
sale fraud.  Nor  did  they  stop  at  Swedes ;  a  native  of  Ohio  was 
dispossessed  on  the  allegation  of  his  being  an  alien.  McKenzie 
became  too  bold,  he  boasted  of  his  backing  at  Washington,  he 
hinted  at  the  support  of  the  biggest  men  in  public  life,  he  sug- 
gested that  the  looting  of  the  land  was  under  government  pro- 
tection. It  became  a  national  scandal.  Exploration  and  de- 
velopment of  mines  practically  stopped.  Miners  were  afraid 
to  work  profitable  ground  lest  McKenzie  and  his  gang  should 
annex  their  claims.  Local  industry  was  paralyzed  as  by  a 
Central  American  revolution.  But  the  United  States  is  not 
Guatemala;  at  length  the  higher  Court  at  San  Francisco 
granted  the  appeal  that  Noyes  had  denied.  McKenzie  was 
commanded  to  cease  all  action  in  the  suits  and  turn  back  to  the 
defendants  their  mines  and  other  property.  Noyes  was  directed 
to  stay  all  proceedings  in  his  court,  the  matter  being  taken 
out  of  his  jurisdiction. 

On  September  14.  1900,  the  papers  for  the  defence  reached 
Nome;  local  feeling  ran  high;  McKenzie  was  threatened  with  a 
violent  death,  but  he  stood  his  ground,  refusing  to  recogni/e 
the  writs  or  deliver  the  gold,  and  Noyes  declined  to  act  in 
accordance  with  the  directions  of  the  upper  Court :  instead,  he 
called  upon  the  troops  to  guard  the  bullion  in  the  bank.  Thus 
the  Judge  employed  the  United  States  Army  to  prevent  the  en- 
forcement of  the  orders  issued  to  him  by  the  higher  Court.  It 
was  the  very  burlesque  of  law,  a  travesty  on  civilization,  the 


356         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

complete  conquest  of  graft.  There  was  nothing  to  do  but  to 
send  the  news  to  San  Francisco  and  wait  for  further  action. 
This  meant  another  month's  delay.  And  all  this  time  Mc- 
Kenzie  and  his  gang  were  gutting  the  mines.  But  Noyes  was 
careless  and  timid,  he  rendered  no  written  opinions  and  took 
no  pains  to  lend  an  air  of  regularity  to  his  court  procedure ; 
even  the  records  of  his  court,  with  the  affidavits  of  the  defence, 
were  sufficient  to  convict  him.  Noyes  became  scared.  It  was 
about  time.  On  October  15  two  deputy  marshals  sent  by  the 
Court  of  Appeals  landed  at  Nome  with  instructions  to  produce 
the  body  of  the  man  who  was  charged  with  contempt.  Mc- 
Kenzie  accompanied  the  deputies  to  San  Francisco,  but  before 
they  left  they  had  to  break  open  the  Alaska  Banking  &  Safe 
Deposit  Co.'s  vault,  in  which  he  had  placed  his  gold.  Gold 
dust  to  the  amount  of  $400,000  was  removed  from  the  vault  to 
the  Alaska  Commercial  Co.'s  office  and  was  subsequently  re- 
turned to  its  owners.  On  the  last  boat  to  leave  Nome,  late  in 
October,  were  the  certified  copies  of  the  Court  records;  these 
had  been  secured  by  Samuel  Knight,  whose  departure  Noyes 
tried  hard  to  prevent.  The  trial  of  the  contempt  cases  took 
place  at  San  Francisco.  On  February  11,  1901,  McKenzie  was 
sentenced  to  one  year  in  prison,  but  he  remained  in  jail  for  a 
few  weeks  only  and  was  then  pardoned  on  the  score  of  ill 
health.  He  was  then  a  member  of  the  National  Republican 
Committee  and  his  pardon  was  obtained  by  the  personal  re- 
quest of  President  McKinley.  At  that  time  McKinley  hap- 
pened to  be  in  California ;  while  at  Monterey  he  telephoned  to 
Judge  Morrow,  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  expressing  a  wish  to 
see  the  latter.  On  the  arrival  of  the  Judge,  the  President 
stated  that  never  had  so  much  pressure  been  brought  to  bear 
in  favor  of  a  convicted  person  as  in  this  McKenzie  case,  in  fact, 
he  doubted  whether,  if  the  positions  were  reversed,  he  himself 
could  command  as  much  political  influence  in  his  own  behalf: 
and  while,  of  course,  he  would  not  for  a  moment  be  a  party  to 
allowing  wrong-doing  to  go  unpunished,  yet  in  this  case,  etc., 
etc. ;  whereupon  McKenzie  was  promptly  released.  This  is  an 
excellent  example  of  the  submission  of  justice  to  politics:  it 
illustrates  the  system  under  which  the  nomination  of  judges  is 


ANARCHY  AT  NOME. 


357 


the  perquisite  of  the  political  boss.  Although  in  Federal  cases 
the  President  is  vested  with  the  pardoning  power,  McKinley 
preferred  to  act  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Judges  because 
the  charge  against  McKenzie  was  contempt  of  court.  Morrow 
had  served  in  Congress  with  McKinley ;  the  Judge  needed  no 
explanations. 

But  conditions  at  Nome  continued  bad.  Injunctions  were 
issued  freely ;  corruption  was  rampant.  Noyes  became  more 
vacillating  and  more  drunken.  He  reversed  himself,  he  ren- 
dered no  written  opinions,  he  delayed  decisions ;  then  the  long 


A  MALAMUTE   TEAM. 

winter  came,  there  was  no  communication  with  the  outer  world, 
Nome  was  helpless.  At  one  time  preparations  were  made  to 
hang  Noyes  and  the  court  gang,  and  in  the  vigilance  com- 
mittee then  organized  were  most  of  the  leaders  of  the  com- 
munity, not  ruffians  but  professional  and  business  men  of 
character.  Just  at  this  time  the  Judge  was  cited  to  appear 
before  the  Court  of  Appeals  to  answer  for  contempt.  He  de- 
cided to  go.  He  was  found  guilty,  and  fined  $1000  in  lieu  of  im- 
prisonment. Two  of  his  assistants,  named  Frost  and  Wood, 
were  imprisoned.  Frost  was  the  special  examiner  from  the 


358         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Department  of  Justice  sent  to  Nome  by  the  Attorney  General, 
but  easily  captured  by  McKenzie,  who  'loaned'  him  money. 
Wood  was  U.  S.  Attorney  and  one  of  McKenzie 's  appointees. 
Political  appointments  at  that  time  and  by  the  gang  then  in 
control  of  the  American  administration  were  made  in  cynical 
disregard  of  decency.  When  someone  protested  against  one 
of  the  appointments  to  the  Court  at  Nome,  Senator  Carter 
replied:  "He  was  a  good  man  to  get  out  of  Montana,  wasn't 
he?"  An  affirmative  was  inevitable.  Even  Griggs,  the  Attor- 
ney General  of  the  United  States,  backed  Noyes  and  wrote  to 
him,  in  the  summer  of  1900,  commending  his  acts  in  appointing 
a  receiver  under  the  circumstances  related. 

Judge  Ross,  who  delivered  the  opinion  in  these  cases,  said 
that  "the  records  and  evidence  show  very  clearly  that  the 
contempts  of  Judge  Noyes  and  Frost  were  committed  in  pursu- 
ance of  a  corrupt  conspiracy  with  Alexander  McKenzie  and 
with  others  not  before  the  court,  and  therefore  not  necessary 
to  be  named,  by  which  the  properties  involved  in  the  suits 
mentioned  in  the  opinion,  among  other  properties,  were  to  be 
wrongfully  taken,  under  the  forms  of  law,  from  the  possession 
of  those  engaged  in  mining  them,  and  the  proceeds  thereof 
appropriated  by  the  conspirators."  Comment  is  superfluous. 
Noyes  was  only  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine ;  out  of  respect  for 
his  judicial  position  he  was  not  sent  to  prison  ;  he  was  successful 
in  delaying  the  execution  of  his  sentence ;  he  and  Frost  con- 
tinued to  draw  their  salaries,  even  though  Frost  was  in  jail. 
The  district  attorney,  Wood,  who  was  sentenced  to  four 
months,  also  remained  on  the  pay-roll  of  the  Government,  and 
it  was  not  until  February  1902,  five  months  later,  that  their 
pay  was  stopped. 

In  the  meantime,  in  September  1901,  Judge  Wickersham 
had  been  transferred  from  Juneau  to  Nome,  and  had  begun  to 
disentangle  the  maze  of  iniquity  left  by  Noyes.  But  corrup- 
tion was  still  rampant.  The  marshal,  Richards,  was  packing 
juries,  and  the  new  district  attorney,  Griggsby,  a  Rough  Rider 
appointed  by  President  Roosevelt  at  the  instance  of  the  senator 
from  North  Dakota,  was  emulating  his  predecessor.  Finally 
President  Roosevelt  caused  a  thorough  investigation  to  be 


ANARCHY  AT  NOME.  359 

made,    whereupon    Richards    and    Griggsby    were    summarily 
removed. 

It  is  to  the  honor  of  American  journalism  that  the  Wash- 
ington Post  was  instrumental  in  exposing  the  whole  shameful 
story,  causing  the  Senate  to  call  for  an  investigation.  In  the 
debate  that  followed,  Stewart  of  Nevada  made  a  clear  state- 
ment of  the  whole  amazing  affair,  and  it  was  such  a  thorough 
exposure  that,  upon  request,  a  large  part  of  it  was  expunged 
from  the  Congressional  Record.  But  it  fulfilled  its  purpose. 
The  new  Attorney-General  caused  a  search  to  be  made  for  the 


AN  ESKIMO   CAMP. 

documents  in  the  case  against  Noyes,  and  thus,  18  months  after 
they  were  filed,  the  charges  came  to  a  hearing.  The  judge  was 
dismissed  on  the  records  of  his  own  court,  which  had  lain  in 
the  Department  of  Justice  for  a  year  and  a  half. 

It  is  fortunate  that  the  conspirators  were  not  more  careful ; 
if  they  had  exercised  greater  caution  it  would  have  been  even 
more  difficult  to  circumvent  them.  McKenzie  and  Noyes  did 
coarse  work,  they  did  not  follow  the  forms  of  law,  they  did 
not  cover  their  tracks,  evidently  expecting  that  their  actions 
were  not  subject  to  review  save  at  the  hands  of  their  allies  at 
Washington.  They  failed  to  appreciate  the  fact  that  appeals 
from  Alaska  went  to  the  Court  of  Appeals  for  the  Ninth  Judi- 


360  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

cial  Circuit,  sitting  at  San  Francisco.  This  circuit  included 
Alaska  and  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  Moreover,  McKenzie  blun- 
dered in  not  realizing  that  this  Court  of  Appeals  could  not  be 
'reached'  by  him  or  the  like  of  him. 

After  Noyes  had  been  punished,  and  after  Wickersham  had 
served  temporarily,  the  appointment  of  Judge  of  the  Second 
District  was  given  to  Alfred  S.  Moore,  at  the  request  of  Quay, 
the  Pennsylvania  political  boss  and  arch  corrupter.  Moore  is 
judge  now,  and  a  poor  judge  too,  from  all  I  could  learn  while 
at  Nome.  He  presides  over  a  court  infested  by  men  most  of 
whom,  under  the  guise  of  lawyers,  are  mere  tricksters  and 
thieves.  When  the  Third  Beach  was  discovered,  in  the  fall  of 
1905,  the  lawyers  banded  to  make  the  most  of  their  chance  to 
get  rich.  Only  one  claim  escaped  litigation.  The  methods 
adopted  varied :  one  of  the  most  successful  was  to  secure  per- 
jured testimony  as  to  the  marking  of  boundaries  from  men  in 
the  vicinity  at  the  date  of  location,  and  thus  shift  the  lines, 
moving  one  claim  on  top  of  the  other,  so  as  to  cover  the  coveted 
ground.  The  buying  of  jurors  was  even  easier,  as  the  jury 
was  not  confined  but  allowed  to  go  home ;  in  some  instances 
two  detectives  were  employed  in  shadowing  each  juror  to 
prevent  either  side  from  getting  at  him.  Most  of  the  cases 
were  concocted  by  the  lawyers,  who  received  one  third  of  the 
claim  if  retained  by  a  miner  and  an  exorbitant  fee  if  retained 
by  a  company.  Thus  it  became  expedient,  as  a  man  said  half 
in  joke,  half  seriously,  to  deed  a  claim,  after  location,  to  a 
lawyer,  then  take  a  75%  'lay',  meaning,  to  work  the  ground 
on  a  75%  royalty,  thus  giving  the  lawyer  25%,  because  if  the 
miner  kept  the  claim  and  sunk  a  shaft  to  'pay',  the  ground 
would  certainly  be  'jumped',  and  in  the  litigation  that  followed 
the  owrner  would  have  to  give  the  lawyer  one  third  before  he 
could  begin  to  protect  himself  in  a  lawsuit.  The  lawyers  have 
fattened  on  such  practices.  The  looting  of  the  mines  by  these 
methods  was  even  farther  reaching  than  the  infamous  con- 
spiracy of  1900,  and  it  has  despoiled  more  individuals. 

Unfortunately,  the  complexities  of  the  mining  law  subserve 
the  chicanery  of  lawyers  whose  life-work  is  to  defeat  justice 
and  aid  the  purpose's  of  tricky  adventurers  whose  hope  is  to 


ANARCHY  AT  NOME. 


361 


get  rich  without  labor.  Even  today  Nome  is  peculiarly  cursed 
with  corrupt  lawyers;  the  leading  practitioners  of  the  town 
will  accept  a  retainer  from  both  sides  in  a  lawsuit  and  while 
acting  for  a  client  they  will  take  advantage  of  the  confidence 
reposed  in  them  to  obtain  knowledge  concerning  the  ground 
and  then  buy  an  interest  in  property  their  client  is  likely  to 
purchase  later.  The  fees  charged  are  exorbitant  and  the  men 
who  receive  them  are  charged  with  inciting  schemes  leading 
to  costly  litigation  and  professional  corruption.  A  weak  judge 
presides.  He  is  ignorant  of  mining  law  and  unstable  in  his 


WALRUSES  ASLEEP  ON  THE   ICE. 

judicial  opinions,  so  that  his  decisions  are  not  respected.  It  is 
a  disgrace  to  the  American  flag  that  justice  should  be  such  a 
by-word  in  Alaska,  especially  on  the  Seward  Peninsula. 

Every  judge  appointed  in  Alaska  has  sooner  or  later  been 
fiercely  attacked;  while  this  has  been  due  in  part  to  the  per- 
sonal incapacity  or  corruption  of  the  judge,  inevitable  under 
the  system  by  which  he  is  selected,  yet  even  a  good  man  would 
have  a  hard  time,  because  the  industries  of  Alaska  are  con- 
trolled largely  by  two  or  three  strong  corporations ;  if  a  judge 
gives  a  decision  in  favor  of  one  of  these,  he  is  pretty  sure  to  be 
abused  by  one  or  more  of  the  others.  Corporate  influences 
dominate  the  nomination  of  the  judges  through  the  senators 


362         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

of  the  party  in  power,  the  naming  of  judges  being  a  part  of  the 
spoil  of  political  victory,  so  that  while  a  President  may  be 
innocent  of  choosing  an  unfit  man,  he  is  helpless,  it  being  the 
custom  for  him  to  distribute  the  patronage  of  his  office  in 
accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  leaders  of  his  party.  Thus 
Carter  of  Montana  and  Quay  of  Pennsylvania,  two  notorious 
political  bosses,  were  the  senators  who  chose  the  judges  whom 
McKinley  appointed  and  whom  even  Roosevelt  sent  to  Alaska. 
Until  the  judiciary  ceases  to  be  the  footstool  of  a  political 
spoils  system,  such  scandals  as  the  Noyes-McKenzie  affair  are 
possible,  although  in  this  case  the  development  of  crime  was 
facilitated  by  the  distance  from  the  centre  of  government. 

But  these  eruptions  of  greed  and  chicanery  are  not  peculiar 
to  any  one  country.  Curiously  enough,  at  the  very  time  when 
McKenzie  and  Noyes  were  exploiting  Nome,  another  group  of 
spoofers  were  working  Manchuria.  Instead  of  Noyes  was 
Alexieff,  instead  of  McKenzie  was  Bezobrazoff,  and  in  lieu  of 
Chipps  was  Vonlalarski.  The  amiable  and  worthless  character 
decorated  with  the  name  of  Admiral  was  the  tool  of  the  two 
schemers,  who  in  turn  were  supported  and  abetted  by  the 
Grand  Dukes — the  Grand  Dukes  of  a  hereditary  bureaucracy 
playing  the  part  of  the  Senators  of  an  undeveloped  democracy. 
Bezobrazoff  and  Vonlalarski  got  Alexieff  to  grant  them  conces- 
sions of  various  kinds,  notably  a  timber  concession  on  the 
Yalu ;  this,  by  causing  trespass  on  the  Korean  side  of  the  river, 
led  to  the  Japanese  war,  which  upset  the  scheme  of  the  gang. 
In  Nome  there  was  no  war,  no  bloodshed.  One  reason  for  such 
marvelously  peaceable  behavior  under  extreme  provocation 
was  the  fact  that  the  victims  of  the  McKenzie-Noyes  conspiracy 
were  mostly  Scandinavians  unused  to  firearms  or  to  other 
reprisals  of  an  explosive  character.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  'gun 
play'  was  a  minor  feature  of  this  burlesque  of  republican  insti- 
tutions, but  the  presence  of  the  military  served  as  an  excellent 
deterrent.  The  officer  in  command  conceived  it  to  be  his  duty 
to  abide  by  the  directions  of  the  Judge,  who  had  authority 
from  Washington.  The  national  capital  was  the  headquarters 
of  this  travesty  upon  representative  government. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
THE  RIDE  TO  OPHIR. 

On  August  30  a  party  consisting  of  C.  H.  Munro,  T.  M. 
Gibson,  Jafet  Lindeberg,  A.  E.  Boyd,  Scott  Turner,  and  the 
writer  left  Nome  for  Ophir  creek.  Going  aboard  the  Flyer,  a 
30-ton  gasoline  launch,  we  went  eastward,  keeping  within  sight 
of  the  coast  as  far  as  Solomon,  where  the  river  of  that  name 
enters  Bering  Sea,  forming  a  shallow  estuary.  Landing  would 
have  been  simple  if  we  had  not  run  aground  and  the  voyage 
would  have  been  pleasant  if  the  cold  spray  had  not  been  fla- 
vored with  the  smell  of  gasoline,  but  these  are  details  in  which 
any  Alaskan  traveler  will  recognize  only  bits  of  local  color.  At 
Solomon  horses  were  awaiting  us,  and  I  found,  much  to  my 
pleasure,  that  'Tony'  was  allotted  to  me.  Tony  is  the  finest 
horse  I  have  ridden  in  any  of  my  travels  about  the  world; 
spirited  but  gentle,  strong  and  willing,  with  a  steady  trot  that 
knows  no  weariness,  I  found  myself  mounted  in  a  style  not  to 
be  expected  in  a  region  where  horses  are  scarce.  The  owner 
of  Tony  is  T.  M.  Gibson ;  to  his  kindness  I  am  deeply  indebted. 
Henceforth  I  shall  have  two  ideals  of  self-denying  courtesy: 
The  first  is  that  of  a  woman,  a  musician  and  a  singer,  who  plays 
perfectly  an  accompaniment  for  a  friend,  the  friend  singing 
badly  a  song  which  the  accompanist  sings  exquisitely.  The 
other  is  that  of  a  man  possessing  a  fine  horse,  most  comfortably 
gaited,  which  he  lends  to  a  friend,  while  he  himself  accom- 
panies the  party  on  a  hired  animal. 

Owing  to  sundry  delays  we  did  not  leave  Solomon  until 
dark,  intending  to  spend  the  night  at  the  camp  of  the  Three 
Friends,  whither  we  had  been  bidden  by  W.  L.  Leland.  The 
distance  was  only  7  miles,  but  we  must  have  forded  the  river 


364  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

fully  17  times.  As  the  horses  had  been  standing  in  the  stable 
all  day  and  were  cold,  and  as  there  were  many  of  them  to- 
gether, stimulating  to  rivalry,  we  went  helter-skelter  over  cor- 
duroy roads,  moss,  and  gravel,  taking  the  fords  at  a  trot,  if  not 
at  a  gallop,  splashing  in  and  out  of  the  river,  plunging  along  in 
the  dark,  until  I  wondered  which  moment  was  to  be  my  last. 
In  an  hour  we  saw  a  light  ahead  and  found  a  man  with  a  lan- 
tern to  guide  us  to  the  road  that  soon  ended  at  the  door  of  Mr. 
Leland's  hospitable  abode.  There,  in  the  midst  of  the  cold 
wilderness,  we  found  "all  the  comforts  of  home."  An  abun- 
dant 'supper',  a  good  smoke,  and  a  most  interesting  discussion, 
were  eventually  followed  by  unfathomable  sleep. 

The  next  day  opened  wet  and  stormy.  Encased  in  'slick- 
ers', or  water-proof  coats,  hats,  and  rubber  hip-boots,  we  went 
to  see  the  dredge  of  the  Three  Friends  Mining  Company.  This 
successful  enterprise  was  organized  by  three  men  who  knew 
what  they  were  about,  so  that  the  common  blunders  of  the  in- 
experienced were  avoided.  Firstly,  the  ground  was  carefully 
tested  by  drilling ;  secondly,  a  strong  machine  was  designed  on 
the  model  of  one  of  the  best  dredges  then  working  at  Oroville, 
California;  thirdly,  an  experienced  crew  was  engaged;  finally, 
care  was  taken  to  avoid  frozen  ground.  These  four  precautions 
constitute  the  A  B  C  of  dredging  in  Alaska,  but  they  are  often 
disregarded.  The  Three  Friends  dredge  is  making  handsome 
profits,  and  affords  an  example  to  the  organizers  of  companies 
intending  to  dig  for  gold  in  river-bottoms. 

The  dredge  has  turned  over  the  bed  of  the  Solomon  river, 
making  successive  piles  of  debris  that  look  like  the  furrows  of 
a  giant  plowman.  Even  a  casual  glance  shows  that  this  reject 
is  not  all  gravel,  but  fragmentary  rock.  On  most  of  the  70 
acres  that  have  been  over-turned  the  bedrock  is  schist,  but 
where  the  dredge  was  at  work  last  August  the  gravel  lay  on 
limestone,  into  which  the  buckets  bit  courageously.  Indeed,  it 
was  remarkable  how  this  Bucyrus  machine  dug  into  the 
weathered  limestone  of  the  river-bottom,  bringing  up  chunks 
of  white  rock  that  looked  as  if  they  had  passed  through  a  rock- 
breaker.  It  is  astonishing  what  work  a  modern  dredge  will 
accomplish. 


366  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

Under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  Leland  we  went  on  board  the 
dredge  and  watched  the  operations,  which,  although  familiar, 
are  always  interesting.  Each  bucket  holds  five  cubic  feet,  the 
spacing  of  the  buckets  and  the  speed  of  their  travel  being  such 
as  to  give  the  dredge  an  actual  daily  capacity  of  3500  cubic 
yards.  The  gravel  yields  about  50  cents'  worth  of  gold  per 
yard,  at  a  cost  of  18  cents.  As  the  gravel  and  two  feet  of  the 
limestone  on  which  it  lay,  were  brought  up  by  the  buckets, 
they  discharged  upon  a  tabular  shaking  screen,  24  feet  long 
and  15  feet  wide ;  this  screen-table  is  made  of  steel-plate 
punched  with  holes,  through  which  the  fine  stuff,  including  the 
gold,  is  washed  by  the  play  of  strong  jets  of  water.  The 
boulders  and  other  refuse  proceed  to  the  rear  of  the  dredge, 
where  they  are  rejected,  while  the  screened  material  is  washed 
over  a  series  of  riffles,  arranged  in  three  tiers,  to  arrest  the 
gold.  Mr.  Leland  was  kind  enough  to  stop  the  dredge,  so  that 
by  aid  of  the  electric  light  we  could  see  the  gold  nesting  under 
the  riffles — and  it  is  always  pleasant  to  see  gold  thus,  not  so 
much  as  the  expression  of  wealth  but  as  the  evidence  of  skill 
in  extracting  it  from  places  that  seem  a  little  beyond  the 
reach  of  man. 

In  the  afternoon  the  weather  cleared  sufficiently  to  warrant 
u  start.  As  Tony  was  restless,  I  rode  ahead  of  the  party  to  the 
road-house  on  the  East  Fork  of  the  Solomon  river,  obtaining 
directions  from  Mr.  Leland.  The  trail  was  easy  to  follow,  for 
it  was  mainly  in  the  river.  Soon  after  starting  I  found  that  I 
had  to  cross  the  river  where  the  water  had  been  deepened  by  a 
dam  built  by  the  dredging  company;  while  this  ford  was  not 
deep  enough  to  compel  the  horse  to  swim  it  made  me  thoroughly 
wet,  for  I  had  declined  the  loan  of  rubber-boots  as  being  awk- 
ward when  riding.  On  the  Seward  Peninsula  the  rubber-boot 
is  continually  required;  everything  is  wet;  the  moss  is  soaking, 
and  even  when  on  horseback  the  frequent  fording  of  icy-cold 
streams  renders  such  protection  advisable.  The  roads,  for  the 
most  part,  cling  to  the  river  beds,  where  gravel  affords  fairly 
good  footing  as  compared  to  the  soggy  tundra;  in  consequence, 
the  road  is  in  the  river,  and  the  river  is  in  the  road,  making  it 
immaterial  whether  it  be  labeled  a  water-wav  or  a  trail. 


368  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

A  series  of  short  trots  over  the  bare  gravel  and  a  number  of 
splashes  through  the  stream  brought  me  to  a  lateral  gulch 
which  I  recognized,  from  description,  as  the  one  that  led  to 
the  Big  Hurrah  mine.  This  is  remarkable  as  the  premier  gold- 
quartz  mine  on  the  Peninsula,  that  is,  a  mine  from  which  gold- 
bearing  ore  was  extracted  from  a  quartz  lode,  as  distinguished 
from  the  gravel  of  the  placer  deposits  constituting  the  source 
of  nearly  all  the  gold  won  in  northern  Alaska.  The  Big  Hurrah 
was  one  of  the  undertakings  of  that  fine  old  Californian, 
Charles  D.  Lane.  The  lode  consists  of  several  quartz  veins  tra- 
versing graphitic  schist.  The  quartz  is  banded  with  graphite, 
which  hindered  amalgamation,  although  much  of  the  gold  was 
so  free  as  to  be  visible.  Many  beautiful  specimens  came  from 
this  mine,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  erosion  of  this  lode 
was  one  of  the  factors  enriching  the  Solomon  river. 

Proceeding  up  the  river  I  saw  several  derelict  dredges  of 
rudimentary  design  and  heard  the  coughing  of  the  gasoline 
engine  actuating  one  that  was  still  at  work.  Tony  pricked  up 
his  ears  and  gave  signs  of  dissatisfaction  with  this  asthmatic 
mechanism,  but  it  was  soon  passed,  like  a  memory  of  the  crudi- 
ties that  have  made  the  dredging  branch  of  gold  mining  a  night- 
mare of  blunders. 

The  seven  or  eight  miles  were  shortly  covered;  there  had 
never  been  any  danger  of  losing  my  way,  for  the  river  was  a 
sufficient  guide,  and  on  the  adjoining  hillslope  the  line  of  the 
Council  City  &  Solomon  Kiver  Railway  afforded  assurance  of 
the  direction  to  be  taken,  although  it  provided  no  more  than 
that,  being  only  the  sign  of  a  dormant  system  of  transportation. 
No  trains  puffed  along  the  quiet  valley,  no  whistle  broke  the 
heavy  silence ;  the  railway  was  not  in  operation,  because  the 
traffic  was  inadequate.  However,  there  it  was:  a  thread  link- 
ing the  desolate  foreground  to  a  radiant  distance,  connecting 
this  great  lone  land  with  home.  I  liked  to  see  it. 

Meanwhile  Tony  maintained  a  steady  trot  and  when  the 
trail  passed  under  the  railway  bridge  I  found  myself  close  to 
a  group  of  buildings  which  I  knew  must  be  the  road-house.  So 
it  proved.  (Jetting  rid  of  my  wet  clothes  and  borrowing  some 
commodious  slippers.  1  was  soon  toasting  beside  the  hot  stove. 


370  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

while  waiting  for  my  friends,  who  arrived  half  an  hour  later. 
We  fared  well  that  night.  Of  course,  road-houses  vary.  For- 
tunately, I  did  not  sample  many  of  them  wrhile  in  Alaska. 
Sheets  are  not  provided ;  instead,  the  traveler  wraps  himself 
in  blankets  used  by  his  predecessors,  and  it  is  only  the  fatigue 
following  exercise  in  a  cold  bracing  air  that  enables  him  to 
overcome  the  anticipation  of  attack  from  various  forms  of  in- 
sect life.  In  the  morning  the  traveler  is  invited  to  "take  a 
shot"  before  breakfast;  this  pre-prandial  drink  being  offered 
by  the  proprietor  as  a  courtesy.  It  is  also  customary  for  the 
bar-tender  to  invite  the  habitues  of  the  establishment,  or  those 
who  have  patronized  the  place  on  the  preceding  night,  to  take 
a  drink  before  breakfast  at  the  expence  of  "the  house."  It  is 
a  villainous  custom  and  creates  a  vicious  habit.  Men  get  so 
used  to  it  that  they  cannot  eat  their  breakfast  without  the 
alcoholic  stimulus,  or.  as  Dr.  Wiley  would  phrase  it,  surprising 
the  expanse  of  expectant  pepsin  with  a  flood  of  ardent  alcohol. 
We  needed  no  such  stimulant.  We  felt  like  eupeptic  heroes. 
The  food  served  was  excellent,  for  this  road-house  was  man- 
aged by  a  clean  thrifty  woman.  The  raspberries  from  the 
neighboring  moor  and  the  fish  from  the  river  were  both  de- 
licious. Even  if  the  eggs  wrere  overdue  that  did  not  matter, 
for  we  were  used  to  'case'  eggs;  in  fact,  one  of  my  friends  at 
Dawson  told  me  that  he  had  become  so  accustomed  to  the  ripe 
rich  flavor  of  case  eggs  that  when  he  went  home  and  his  mother 
took  pains  to  have  perfectly  fresh  eggs  served  at  breakfast  on 
the  morning  following  his  arrival,  he  complained  that  they 
were  insipid!  Eggs  intended  for  mining  camps  and  other  dis- 
tant places  are  packed  in  sectionalixed  cardboard  boxes,  each 
egg  being  in  a  separate  partition,  and  30  dozen  in  one  'case.' 
In  order  to  preserve  such  eggs  they  undergo  treatment  previous 
to  being  packed,  the  essential  feature  of  all  the  various  methods 
being  exclusion  of  air.  In  the  old  days  eggs  were  buried  in 
salt  and  kept  in  a  cool  place.  Nowadays  eggs  intended  for 
transport  are  immersed  in  a  solution  of  water-glass  or  in  lime- 
water;  the  first  of  these  is  a  soluble  silicate  of  soda,  while  the 
second  is  ordinary  unslaked  lime  in  water.  By  this  treatment 
the  decay  is  retarded  and  in  a  cold  country  they  keep  for  a 


THE  RIDE  TO  OPHIR.  371 

long  time ;  the  freshest  egg  eaten  at  Nome  must  have  been  laid 
five  months,  while  the  age  of  the  oldest  a  polite  man  would  no 
more  care  to  guess  that  the  years  of  an  old  maid.  Even  the 
eggs  that  seem  but  unhatched  chickens  are  palatable  to  hungry 
men.  Another  staple  article  of  food  is  condensed  milk ;  as  co 
that  it  is  safe  to  say  that  good  condensed  milk  is  more  whole- 
some than  most  of  the  milk  sold  in  cities ;  certainly,  the  miner 
gets  to  like  it,  especially  with  his  coffee,  and  he  adds  it  to  the 
wild  raspberries  and  blueberries  with  gusto.  Habit  is  second 
nature. 

Leaving  the  East  Fork  next  morning  we  crossed  the  divide 
separating  the  watersheds  of  the  Solomon  and  Fox  rivers.  At 
noon  we  halted  at  Hatch's  cabin  on  I.  X.  L.  creek.  Etiquette  in 
Alaska,  or  elsewhere,  requires  that  if  you  use  another  man's 
cooking  utensils,  you  shall  clean  them  after  using.  Also  you 
shall  put  at  least  as  much  firewood  beside  the  stove  as  that 
consumed  by  your  own  use.  For  the  rest,  the  prospector  in  the 
North  is  generous,  and  in  his  absence,  is  not  averse  to  the  con- 
sumption of  his  bacon  and  beans,  leaving  it  to  you  to  return 
the  hospitality  when  he  comes  to  your  'creek.' 

The  scenery  in  this  part  of  the  Peninsula  is  subdued :  Low 
rounded  ridges,  clad  in  tundra,  are  crested  with  outcrops  of 
schist,  of  fantastic  form,  due  to  accidents  of  weathering  on  a 
rock  of  tabular  structure.  As  seen  through  flying  veils  of  mist 
these  isolated  rocks  took  the  shape  of  men  and  monsters ;  to 
the  first  invaders  of  the  wilderness  they  must  have  been  un- 
canny, and  to  an  imagination  distorted  by  hunger  or  weariness 
they  probably  loomed  like  the  figures  of  a  distempered  dream. 
To  those  who  know  Ota  go,  in  the  South  Island  of  New  Zealand, 
I  can  say  that  in  rock-weathering  this  part  of  the  Seward 
Peninsula  resembles  the  ridges  near  Barewood. 

The  landscape  was  not  without  color,  for  the  first  frosts 
had  already  touched  the  foliage ;  in  the  valleys  the  willows 
and  blueberry  bushes  had  the  glint  of  gold,  and  on  the  hill- 
sides the  imperial  purple  of  autumn  was  thrown  over  a  wilder- 
ness whose  furthest  rim  was  silhouetted  against  a  gray  sky. 

Tony  was  full  of  vigor  and  led  the  cavalcade.  In  the  stream, 
repeatedly  forded,  the  trout  darted  from  underneath  the  hoofs 


372         THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

of  the  horse,  while  the  frightened  duck  flew  in  near  circles. 
Finally,  leaving  Fox  creek  I  ascended  a  short  rise  and  found 
myself  on  the  edge  of  the  Niukluk  valley.  A  perfectly  straight 
road,  about  five  miles  long,  stretched  across  the  tundra  to 
Council,  a  cluster  of  white  buildings  on  the  farther  bank  of 
the  river.  This  bit  of  good  road  was  built  by  the  Eoad  Com- 
mission and  consists  of  corduroy,  covered  with  moss  and  topped 
with  gravel.  It  connects  the  trail  or  water  route  of  the  Niukluk 
with  the  Solomon  river,  and  has  proved  a  great  help  in  the 
haulage  of  supplies  to  the  mines. 

Council  saw  the  beginning  of  gold  mining  on  the  Seward 
Peninsula,  as  has  already  been  recorded ;  but  it  is  quiet  now, 
with  a  population  of  200  only.  At  the  ford  of  the  Niukluk  the 
members  of  our  party  re-united  and  after  plunging  through  the 
river  we  skirted  the  village,  taking  a  trail  that  followed  the 
left  'limit'  of  the  Niukluk.  A  curious  bit  of  physiography  is 
here  exhibited :  the  Niukluk  and  a  tributary  stream — Ophir 
creek — are  parallel,  occupying  the  same  valley  without  loss  of 
identity ;  thus  for  a  mile  Ophir  creek  runs  within  100  yards  of 
the  Niukluk  river.  In  order  to  float  a  dredge  from  Council  to 
Ophir,  a  cut  was  blasted  between  the  two  water-channels. 
Turning  into  the  canyon  of  Ophir  creek  we  passed  the  dredge, 
called  the  Blue  Goose,  and  just  above  it  we  reached  our  destina- 
tion, the  camp  of  the  Wild  Goose  Mining  &  Trading  Company, 
distant  42  miles  from  Solomon. 

Here  we  spent  four  days.  There  was  much  to  see  in  the 
way  of  mining  operations,  including  the  use  of  elevators  and 
dredges,  but  this  is  not  the  place  for  technical  details.  They 
will  be  found  elsewhere.*  During  the  daytime  we  rode  or 
walked  to  the  various  centres  of  mining  activity,  as,  for  in- 
stance, to  the  Blue  Goose  dredge.  This  we  found  idle,  owing 
to  an  accident  such  as  may  befall  even  the  best-managed  enter- 
prise. An  unexpected  encounter  with  a  patch  of  fro/en  ground 
had  strained  the  bucket-line,  breaking  sonic  of  the  teeth  of  the 
main  driving  wheel,  and  some  of  these  broken  pieces  becoming 
caught  in  the  pinion  had  cracked  the  rim  of  the  driving-wheel 

"Mining  and  Scientific  Press,  November  28,  1908;  also  March  13,  1909. 


374  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

itself.  At  the  same  time  the  big  wooden  anchorage  or  'spud' 
was  shattered.  Altogether  it  looked  like  a  serious  disaster,  for 
Ophir  creek  is  a  long  way  from  timber-yards  and  foundries. 
Nevertheless,  ingenuity  and  hard  work  overcame  the  damage 
without  delay ;  anxious  to  make  the  most  of  the  only  too  brief 
season,  the  crew  worked  by  night  and  day,  with  a  right  good 
will,  so  that  within  three  days  the  machine  once  more  was  dig- 
ging. G.  H.  Russell,  the  manager,  and  Jafet  Lindeberg,  the 
president  of  the  company,  are  to  be  congratulated  on  this  ex- 
ample of  efficiency.  As  stated  already,  the  accident  was  due 
to  'bucking'  frozen  ground;  in  fact,  if  anything  goes  wrong 
with  a  dredge  in  the  North,  cliercliez  la  glace ! 

This  little  dredge  is  a  self-contained  machine ;  on  board  I 
found  a  machine-shop,  smithy,  and  mess-room.  The  crew 
take  their  midday  meal  on  board,  and  as  the  soup  is  agitated 
by  the  vibrations  of  the  dredge  they  must  feel  as  if  they  were 
on  a  Yukon  steamer  aground.  The  running  time  is  110  days 
each  summer,  and  of  this  31  per  cent  is  lost  by  stops  for  re- 
pairs and  other  causes.  About  100,000  cubic  yards  are  dug,  for 
a  yield  of  $85.000  and  a  profit  of  $50,000.  This  is  encouraging. 

On  September  3  we  rode  to  No.  24  Above,  or  8  miles  beyond 
the  camp  on  Discovery  where  the  Wild  Goose  company  has  its 
headquarters.  We  passed  the  old  camp  on  Xo.  15  Above  where. 
Charles  Lane  lived  several  years  ago.  (Maim  No.  15  yielded 
$1,400,000.  On  Xo.  14  a  piece  of  ground  1100  feet  long  and 
125  feet  wide  yielded  $800,000.  At  the  upper  end  of  No.  20  the 
gravel  was  worth  $20  per  cubic  yard.  It  was  well  named  Ophir. 

Yet,  although  so  near  to  Solomon,  these  gold  diggings  are 
not  imputed  as  the  source  of  the  Jewish  king's  wealth.  In  the 
Zambesi  region  of  central  Africa  there  is  a  mountain  named 
Fura.  a  name  taken  by  the  Portuguese  from  Aral)  traders,  who 
corrupted  it  from  the  Hebrew  word  Ophir.  Indeed,  the  word 
Africa  itself,  which  the  Romans  took  from  the  Carthaginians, 
is  a  modification  of  Afur  or  Aufur:  thus  from  Ophir.  through 
A  fir,  Afer.  A  fur.  was  Africa  evolved.  Carl  Peters  is  my 
authority,  but  he  went  farther,  he  went  to  the  Zambesi.  Be- 
tween that  great  river  and  the  Sabi.  in  modern  Rhodesia,  he 
found  manv  thousand  old  mines  some  of  which,  ten  vears  ago. 


THE  RIDE  TO  OPHIR.  375 

afforded  the  foundation  for  company  finance  in  London.  These 
old  workings  are  scattered  over  a  region  covering  750,000 
square  miles,  and  within  this  area  are  ruins  of  cities,  fortresses, 
and  temples  bearing  evidence  of  the  ancient  worship  of  Baal- 
Ashera  and  of  the  civilization  that  characterized  the  Himyar- 
ites  of  southern  Arabia.  From  the  hot  sands  beside  the  Red 
Sea  to  the  frozen  gravel  by  Bering  Sea  is  a  far  cry,  but  the 
human  motive  is  the  same ;  despite  changes  of  time  and  place, 
the  digging  of  gold  has  been  the  spur  to  exploration  and  the 
pioneer  of  civilization. 

At  claim  No.  19  on  Ophir  a  sharp  turn  in  the  creek  coincides 
with  a  sharp  turn  in  the  sentiment  of  these  pages,  for  here  is 
recalled  the  long  litigation  known  technically  as  Walton  v. 
Wild  Goose.  Walton  was,  and  is,  a  colored  lady,  whom  I  hap- 
pened to  see  at  Nome,  while  at  the  Golden  Gate  hotel.  A  tele- 
phone in  the  lobby  was  used  by  Miss  Walton  with  such  noisy 
insistence  as  to  give  an  idea  of  her  possibilities  as  a  litigant. 
In  local  history  she  will  figure  as  the  poor  lone  negro-woman 
who  sued  a  soulless  corporation,  and  lost.  It  was  thus :  In  the 
early  days  of  Ophir  creek  the  prospectors  used  printed  location 
forms  claiming  the  bed  of  the  creek  and  "the  meanderings 
thereof."  On  No.  19  the  stakes  were  not  placed  in  accordance 
with  this  description,  but  in  a  straight  line  across  the  bend  of 
the  channel.  A  claim-jumper  took  advantage  of  this  fact,  and 
Miss  Walton  became  a  partner  with  him.  After  a  long  struggle 
in  the  courts  it  was  decided,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  that  the 
actual  position  of  the  stakes  took  precedence  over  the  descrip- 
tion appearing  on  the  location  notice.  This  decision  was  ap- 
pealed and  sustained.  Another  interesting  point  arising  in 
this  litigation  was  the  assertion  that  Capt.  Walker,  the  locator 
by  proxy,  had  not  done  sufficient  assessment  work.  Walker 
was  stationed  at  St.  Michael ;  after  the  close  of  navigation  he 
sent  three  men  overland,  instructing  them  to  comply  with  the 
mining  regulations.  They  dug  a  trench,  which,  it  was  said, 
took  10  days  of  work.  The  Walton  people  claimed  that  such  a 
trench  could  be  dug  in  3  days,  and  they  caused  such  a  trench 
to  be  dug  in  that  amount  of  time.  The  Judge,  however,  in- 
structed the  jury  that  they  might  consider  the  distance  from 


376  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

the  source  of  supplies,  and  the  consequent  expense  involved,  in 
estimating  the  cost  of  the  work  done  on  the  claim.  It  was  175 
miles  to  St.  Michael  and  cost  the  captain  $300  to  send  the  three 
men,  therefore  the  jury  found  that  he  had  shown  good  faith  in 
maintaining  his  title  by  doing  the  work  required  by  law. 

On  24  Above  we  lunched  with  J.  L.  Wilson  and  saw  the 
operation  of  his  bucket  dredge,  a  small  machine  moving  on  a 
turn-table ;  this  dredge  was  doing  good  work,  digging  to  a 
depth  of  15  feet,  with  12  to  15  horse-power,  obtained  from  the 
combustion  of  distillate. 

That  evening  snow  fell  and  the  rapidly  shortening  days 
gave  warning  to  the  mine  operators  that  their  season  was 
already  waning.  The  absence  of  smoke,  either  from  forest  fires 
or  factories,  caused  the  atmosphere  to  be  wonderfully  clear.  It 
was  to  this  cause  that  I  impute  the  marvelous  coloring  at  sun- 
set: A  gray  sky,  belted  near  the  horizon  by  a  broad  band  of 
pink ;  under  it  purple  clouds,  against  which  the  long  curve  of 
the  hills  and  the  sweeping  contours  of  the  darkly  green  tundra 
were  thrown  in  exquisite  purity  of  line  and  color. 

On  the  morning  of  September  4  we  started  on  the  return 
journey,  leaving  Ophir  creek  at  9:40  a.m.  and  reaching  Le- 
land's  camp  at  5:10  p.m.,  thus  covering  the  42  miles  in  71/1> 
hours,  including  the  half-hour  halt  at  midday  in  Skookum 
gulch.  It  was  cold  and  windy  weather,  culminating  in  a  slight 
fall  of  snow.  On  this  day  my  saddle-bags  contained  561  ounces 
of  gold,  in  two  bars,  but  the  additional  weight  did  not  bother 
Tony,  who  maintained  a  steady  trot  over  the  uneven  trail. 
Crossing  the  divide  into  the  valley  of  the  Solomon,  I  noted  the 
dome-shaped  hills  of  limestone,  weathered  and  gray,  with 
tundra  clinging  to  their  feet.  It  was  a  forbidding  landscape : 
cold  gray  hills  against  a  wintry  sky.  .  But  the  air  was  bracing 
and  the  swinging  gait  of  the  horse  made  exhilarating  exercise, 
ending  in  a  comfortable  rendezvous  at  Oro  Fino,  as  the  camp 
of  the  Three  Friends  is  called.  At  7 : 40  the  next  morning  we 
were  in  the  saddle  again,  arriving  at  Solomon  at  8:25;  here 
the  gold  was  taken  from  me  for  shipment  by  the  Flyer,  that  un- 
happy vessel  being  visible  off-shore,  where  she  was  again 
stranded  on  a  bar;  as  the  tide  was  ebbing,  the  prospects  of  a 


378  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

start  were  poor.  This  was  fortunate,  for  it  decided  us  to  ride 
to  Nome  on  our  trusty  horses  rather  than  risk  a  voyage  along 
the  coast  in  a  miserable  launch.  Munro,  Turner,  and  I  left 
Solomon  at  9 : 15,  and  then  commenced  the  finest  ride  of  my 
life. 

The  road  ran  along  a  sand-spit,  formerly  a  bar,  but  now 
green  with  tough  grass.  With  firm  ground  underfoot  and 
willing  horses,  the  telephone  poles  flanking  the  road  in  long 
perspective  were  passed  in  quick  succession.  Only  a  hundred 
yards  to  the  left  was  Bering  Sea,  smooth  and  sunlit,  with  no 
suggestion  of  the  storms  that  had  flung  the  gray  driftwood 
high  on  the  edge  of  the  land.  On  the  right,  also  a  hundred 
yards  away,  a  long  lagoon  mirrored  the  blue  and  wrhite  of  the 
sky ;  inland  stretched  the  tundra,  in  the  tawny  livery  of  autumn, 
crossed  by  the  purple  shadows  of  traveling  clouds,  while  in 
the  distance  northward  rose  the  limestone  hills  whence  come 
the  Bonanza  and  Flambeau  rivers.  At  18  miles  from  Solomon 
the  road  is  interrupted  by  an  estuary  at  the  mouth  of  which 
is  Port  Safety.  Here  is  the  Government  wireless  telegraph 
station.  As  we  wraited  for  the  ferry  the  only  sound  to  be  heard 
was  the  coughing  of  the  gasoline  engine  that  runs  the  dynamo 
of  the  wireless  equipment.  This  station  is  said  to  be  the  most 
successful  of  its  kind  in  catching  messages  from  passing  ships, 
and  it  is  also  the  only  means  of  telegraphic  communication  be- 
t\veen  the  Seward  Peninsula  and  the  outer  world,  messages 
being  transmitted  to  St.  Michael,  whence  they  are  forwarded 
overland  by  the  military  telegraph  system,  which  crosses 
Alaska  by  way  of  Eagle  and  Fairbanks. 

Beyond  Port  Safety  the  road  continued  excellent,  clinging 
to  the  edge  of  the  land,  so  that  we  were  always  close  to  the 
sea.  Several  Eskimo  camps  were  passed.  Countless  dogs  made 
the  quiet  air  vibrate  with  their  melancholy  howls.  The  squaws 
were  picking  blueberries,  using  wooden  rakes  made  from  the 
covers  of  cigar-boxes.  One  young  woman  in  a  gay  parka  was 
attended  by  a  young  man  who  lay  idly  watching  his  belle  at 
her  pleasant  task.  An  Eskimo  idyll — the  same  old  game!  On 
a  tent-pole  the  skin  of  a  hair-seal  was  drying  and  on  other 
frames  fish  were  hanging1  like  bananas.  We  saw  an  oomiak  or 


00 

o     c 
,_,      3 


380  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

native  boat  containing  a  family  of  ten,  the  father  steering  with 
the  paddle,  while  the  boat  was  towed  by  six  dogs,  tended  by 
a  young  man  and  woman,  walking  together.  At  12 : 45  we 
reached  the  road-house  near  Cape  Nome,  remaining  there  until 
2 : 30,  so  as  to  give  the  horses  a  proper  rest.  It  was  from  Cape 
Nome  that  the  district  obtained  its  name ;  on  the  western  side 
of  the  cape  we  abandoned  the  road  and  took  to  the  beach, 
riding  along  the  shore  for  10  miles,  as  far  as  Fort  Davis. 

The  tide  is  out  and  the  firm  wet  sand  affords  excellent  foot- 
ing. Our  horses  are  willing  and  full  of  life,  emulous  to  keep 
ahead,  so  that  they  move  gladly.  Tony  will  not  be  denied,' 
maintaining  a  fast  trot  as  if  he  had  just  come  out  of  his  stable. 
The  cold  wind  blows  from  Bering  Sea,  the  breakers  curl  to  the 
shore,  the  horse  treads  on  the  silver  fringe  of  the  waves  as 
they  ripple  over  the  sandy  beach;  the  strong  pulsating  move- 
ment of  the  noble  animal,  the  exhilaration  of  an  air  fresh  as 
the  breath  of  dawn,  the  feeling  of  perfect  freedom  and  un- 
limited expansiveness,  a  sense  of  complete  well-being  and  gay 
adventure,  touch  every  tingling  nerve  and  stimulate  every 
willing  muscle,  until  I  shout  with  delight.  It  is  well  for  a  brief 
space  to  feel  like  a  viking  when  the  world  was  young,  as  if  the 
complexities  of  civilization  had  been  swept  away  by  the  cold 
breath  of  the  sea,  as  if  money  and  business,  steam  and  elec- 
tricity, factories  and  libraries,  no  longer  existed,  while  the  tide 
of  life  fills  every  corner  with  exultant  joy. 

At  Fort  Davis  we  had  to  return  to  the  road,  for  the  beach 
was  being  mined  for  gold,  but  it  was  only  three  miles  to  Nome. 
Although  we  had  ridden  43  miles  in  5Vs  hours  of  actual  travel 
our  horses  were  still  unwearied,  which  is  further  evidence  of 
the  invigorating  nature  of  this  Northern  atmosphere.  We 
rattled  down  the  planked  way  of  the  long  Front  street,  and 
dismounted  at  the  Wild  Goose  office  at  4:30.  After  a  change 
and  a  bath  we  made  tracks  for  the  Royal  Cafe  and  there  cele- 
brated the  termination  of  a  glorious  trip  by  dining  on  wild 
goose  and  reindeer  stew,  washed  down  with  a  bottle  of  Cali- 
fornian  burgundy,  followed  by  the  smoke  that  makes  all  men 
brothers. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 
SAN  FRANCISCO. 

The  journey  from  Nome  to  Seattle  calls  for  no  special  com- 
ment. The  Northwestern,  of  the  Alaska  Steamship  Company, 
was  not  as  big  as  an  Atlantic  liner,  having  a  register  of  3396 
tons  and  a  length  of  350  feet  only,  but  she  was  comfortable. 
Her  hold  being  almost  empty,  she  threshed  about  in  the  trough 
of  the  seas,  but  after  the  river  boats  it  seemed  luxurious  to  be 
on  a  well  appointed  vessel.  The  passengers  included  a  number 
of  mining  men,  among  whom  were  several  who  had  taken  part 
in  the  early  development  of  Nome  and  whom  therefore  I  found 
particularly  interesting.  Two  days  after  leaving  Nome  a  light 
on  the  port  side  indicated  the  beacon  guarding  the  strait  of 
Unimak,  in  the  Aleutian  islands.  No  stop  was  made  at  Dutch 
Harbor,  we  passed  through  the  strait  and  our  course  was  laid 
due  east,  emphasizing  how  far  "the  path  of  Empire"  has  led 
westward.  The  best  day's  run  was  316  knots;  the  poorest,  284. 
On  September  15,  seven  days  out,  we  sighted  Vancouver  island, 
and  the  next  sunrise  saw  us  in  the  quiet  waters  of  Puget  Sound. 
It  was  a  fine  morning ;  to  starboard  the  snow-clad  peaks  of  the 
Olympic  range,  which  three  months  earlier,  on  the  outset  of  my 
journey  to  the  Northwest,  had  seemed  a  bit  of  grand  scenery, 
now  wore  a  familiar  look  and  spoke  of  the  nearness  to  home. 
Landing  at  Seattle,  I  found  that  the  steamer  for  San  Francisco 
did  not  leave  for  48  hours.  Accordingly,  after  spending  a  night 
in  Seattle,  I  took  the  boat  for  Victoria.  When  the  Governor,  of 
the  Pacific  Coast  Steamship  line,  arrived  on  the  evening  of 
September  18  I  went  aboard  and  on  September  21  the  long 
journey  ended  at  the  port  of  San  Francisco. 

At  break  of  day  the  Governor  was  gliding  slowly  over  a  gray 


382  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

sea  into  a  silver  mist  from  which  issued  the  hoarse  warnings 
of  foghorns.  The  opalescent  light  illumined  the  inflowing  tide 
and  glanced  upon  the  sails  of  a  fishing  boat;  the  delicious 
stillness  was  only  broken  by  the  lapping  of  the  water  against 
the  sides  of  the  ship,  until  suddenly  the  fierce  blast  of  our  siren 
made  the  air  vibrate  with  waves  of  sound  that  were  quickly 
swallowed  by  the  fog. 

It  was  early  dawn ;  as  the  mist  took  form  momentarily 
the  blue  sky  lit  by  the  morning  sun  flashed  a  California!! 
greeting  overhead.  Thereupon  the  white  curtains  of  the  fog 
were  swept  aside,  and  like  a  splendid  scene  in  a  theatre,  the 
whole  panorama  of  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco  was  spread  to 
view.  We  were  close  to  Alcatraz,  the  island  prison,  which 
like  a  fortress  bars  the  Golden  Gate ;  to  the  left  were  the  hills 
of  the  Marin  shore,  with  Sausalito,  like  Sorrento,  clinging  to 
the  cliffs  at  whose  feet  the  white  sails  come  and  go  with  the 
sea-gulls;  ahead  rose  Angel  island,  with  suggestions  of  naval 
activity,  and  Goat  island,  the  Capri  of  these  waters ;  across  the 
calm  expanse  of  the  Bay,  now  laughing  in  the  sun,  stood  the 
Contra  Costa  foot-hills,  with  all  the  familiar  lines  of  grassy 
slope  and  oaken  glade,  at  the  base  of  which  the  linked  com- 
munities of  Berkeley.  Oakland,  and  Alameda  lay  spread  in 
peaceful  security,  forgetful  of  the  tremor  that  had  rocked  the 
earth  on  the  morning  of  April  18,  1906.  The  white  buildings 
of  the  University,  framed  in  groves  of  eucalyptus  and  acacia, 
were  distinguishable,  and  over  the  intervening  space  of  water 
the  ferry-boats  churned  in  orderly  succession  to  and  from  the 
wharves  of  San  Francisco.  She.  the  warder  of  two  continents, 
whom  the  poet  in  prophetic  words  called  "indifferent  of  fate." 
rose  above  the  swift  tide  and  filled  the  picture,  as  she  fulfilled 
my  imagination.  I  saluted  the  most  imperturbable  of  cities, 
the  survivor  of  earthquake  and  fire,  the  vice-ridden,  graft- 
cursed  community,  that,  with  heroic  courage  and  splendid 
audacity  had  risen  in  self-assertive  strength  from  ruins  scarcely 
cold.  Two  years  ago  she  lifted  an  ashen  face  to  the  blue  of  a 
pitilessly  perfect  sky;  now  the  same  site  was  covered  by  splen- 
did structures  of  steel  and  stone,  traversed  by  orderly  streets, 
and  thronged  by  happy  faces. 


SAN  FRANCISCO.  383 

On  August  1,  1836,  Jacob  P.  Leese  wrote  from  Yerba  Buena 
to  a  friend  at  Monterey,  California,  saying:  "Leigh  low  and 
look  out  sharp  for  this  Place  as  we  are  a  gowing  to  do  a  snort- 
ing Buisiness.  Do  not  make  yourself  uneasy  about  Buisiness 
here  for  all  gows  on  straight."  The  Yerba  Buena  thus  com- 
mended was  the  settlement  that  became  San  Francisco,  and 
Jacob  Leese  was  the  first  merchant  of  what  was  destined  to 
be  a  great  mercantile  community.  His  optimism,  told  in  homely 
language  and  early  reformed  spelling,  has  often  been  expressed 
since  then  in  more  resplendent  phrase ;  it  has  passed  from 
words  to  deeds.  The  barren  sand-hills  facing  the  surf  of  the 
Pacific  have  been  made  gracious  with  verdure ;  on  the  wind- 
swept dunes  rise  many-storied  structures,  knit  with  steel  and 
clothed  with  stone ;  the  shallows  of  the  shore  have  been  won  to 
traffic,  and  the  waters  of  the  estuary  bear  the  commerce  of  a 
continent.  Yerba  Buena  has  emerged  from  its  Spanish  back- 
ground and  has  become  the  San  Francisco  of  an  American 
California. 

San  Francisco :  The  name  has  a  melancholy  cadence  to 
those  who  have  known  her  in  the  days  of  her  prosperity,  her 
disaster,  and  her  shame.  Today  she  guards  the  portal  of  the 
Pacific  and  takes  it  upon  her  to  forbid  the  entrance  of  the 
coolies  of  Japan,  with  a  manner  in  which  are  blended  dignity 
and  burlesque ;  in  the  midst  of  a  reconstruction  that  challenged 
the  admiration  of  the  world  she  sent  her  indicted  mayor,  the 
first  violin  of  a  vaudeville,  and  the  latest  expression  of  labor 
unrest,  to  represent  her  in  an  international  negotiation  at 
Washington  ;  in  the  very  act  of  rising  gloriously  from  the  effects 
of  a  conflagration  that  enkindled  the  generosity  of  the  world, 
she  exposed  a  scandal  of  municipal  corruption  that  made  the 
smoke  of  her  fire  drift  to  heaven  like  the  reek  of  a  tannery. 
San  Francisco  epitomizes  the  greatness  and  the  smallness  of 
humanity ;  those  who  love  her  know  that  beneath  the  tawdry 
politics  and  the  reckless  industrialism  beats  the  warm  heart  of 
a  great  personality.  For  cities  have  characteristics  that  give 
them  an  identity.  The  City  beside  the  Golden  Gate  wears  her 
heart  upon  her  sleeve,  she  is  the  most  Bohemian  of  her  kind, 
neither  self-conscious  nor  conventional,  artless  as  a  spoilt  child 


384  THROUGH  THE  YUKON  AND  ALASKA. 

and  sensitive  as  a  woman.  Proud  of  her  origin  as  the  haven 
of  the  Argonauts,  confident  in  the  promise  of  her  dominion  of 
the  Pacific,  headstrong  in  the  insistence  upon  her  supposed 
rights,  serene  amid  the  shock  of  cosmic  unrest,  she  appeals  to 
the  imagination  of  the  poet  and  to  the  perception  of  the  artist. 
It  was  well  to  have  known  her  at  her  worst,  under  her  mounte- 
bank mayor  and  thieving  political  boss,  in  the  thrall  of  muni- 
cipal corruption  and  amid  the  stench  of  putrifying  incivism; 
it  was  well  to  have  known  her  at  her  best,  facing  a  catastrophe 
that  looked  like  the  end  of  the  world  and  repairing  a  disaster 
that  had  no  promise  of  a  morrow ;  it  was  well  to  have  shared 
her  ruin  and  her  resurrection,  to  have  felt  her  shame  and  glo- 
ried in  her  greatness. 

As  the  tattered  veil  of  fog  was  blown  southward  by  the 
morning  breeze,  I  looked  at  the  awakening  city,  now  radiant 
in  the  sunlight,  and  seemed  to  see  the  day  when  San  Francisco 
should  glow  in  the  dawn  of  a  civic  regeneration  and  feel  the 
bracing  air  of  a  sane  patriotism,  before  which  the  greed  and 
graft,  the  corruption  and  chicanery,  should  be  blown  as  a  fog 
from  the  sea.  Then,  firmly  poised  on  her  peninsula,  San  Fran- 
cisco shall  face  her  destiny  with  proud  serenity.  "With  her  back 
to  the  trails  that  brought  her  people  over  mountain  and  plain 
from  the  distant  seaboard  on  the  other  side  of  the  continent, 
she  shall  face  the  sunset  with  an  earnest  face.  The  Atlantic 
breakers  sound  faint ;  the  surf  at  her  feet  thunders  a  welcome. 
Her  eyes  have  caught  the  glow  of  the  setting  sun  and  in  her 
ears  is  the  song  of  the  Pacific,  bringing  the  promise  of  com- 
merce with  the  immemorial  East  that  has  become  a  new  West. 


BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE 

'Through  the  Yukon  Gold  Diggings'.    By  J.  E.  Spurr.    1900. 

'Three  Years  in  the  Klondike'.     By  Jeremiah  Lynch.     1904. 

'Alaska  and  the  Klondike'.    By  Angelo  Heilprin.    1903. 

'The  Geography  and  Geology  of  Alaska'.     By  Alfred  H.  Brooks.     1906. 

'Glacier  Bay  and  Its  Glaciers'.     By  Harry  Fielding  Reid.     U.  S.  Geo- 
logical Survey.     Sixteenth  Annual  Report,  Part  1, 

'The    Looting   of   Alaska'.      By    Rex    E.    Beach.     Appleton's   Magazine. 
January  to  May,  1906. 

'Voyage  of  Discovery*.    By  George  Vancouver.     1798. 
'History  of  California'.    By  Theodore  H.  Hittell.    1898. 
'The  Land  of  Nome'.    By  Laurier  McKee.    1902. 
'Alaska,  The  Great  Country'.    By  Ella  Higginson.     1908. 
'Alaska  and  Its  Resources'.    By  William  H.  Ball.    1897. 
'Alaska.'    Vol.  I,  II,  and  III.     Harriman  Expedition.    1902. 

'The  Gold  Placers  of  Parts  of  Seward  Peninsula,  Alaska'.     Bulletin  No. 
328,  U.  S.  Geological  Survey. 

'The  Ice  Age  in  North  America'.    By  G.  Frederick  Wright.     1888. 

'History  of  Alaska'.    By  H.  H.  Bancroft. 

'Guide-book  to  Alaska'.     By  Eliza  R.  Scidmore.     1899. 


INDEX 


Page. 

Adams,  Bob    323 

Agriculture,  Arctic 279 

Beginnings  of    260 

Experiment  Stations.  .281,  284 

U.  S.  Department  of 92 

Alaska   and   California,   Rela- 
tion Between    105 

Area   Available    for   Agri- 
culture       284 

Commercial  Co 94 

Discovery     and     Develop- 
ment of   10 

Experiment    Stations. 281,  284 

Exploration  Co 288 

Federal  Courts  of 100 

Glaciers  of   47 

Gold  Mining  Co 350 

History  of 89 

Judiciary  of   361 

Low  Topography  of.. 256,  258 

Mill  &  Mining  Co 26 

Origin  of  Name  of 9 

Population  of 100 

Purchase    of,    by    United 

States 14,  94,  103,  104 

Size  of   10 

Steamship  Co 5,  302,  381 

Treadwell  Mines   23 

Allen,    Scotty 130 

American    Citizens    in    Yukon 

Territory   236 

Anderson,  Charles  195 

Anderson,  P.  H 328,  334 

Anarchy  at  Nome 345 

Anvik   296 

Arctic  Circle,  The 249 

Agriculture    279 

Astor,  John  Jacob 110 

Baranoff,  Alexander,  First  Gov- 
ernor of  Alaska 2,  88,  90 

Baranoff  Island  77 

Barber,  Bert   326 


Page. 

Barnard,  Lieut,  Death  of 294 

Barnette,  Captain  E.  T 263 

Barrette,  Joe  146 

Beach  Mining  at  Nome 337 

Bean,  Edmund 14,  18 

Berdoe,  A.  L 156,  158 

Berger,  Jake   326 

Bering  Sea   337 

Bering,  Vitus  89 

Berry,  Clarence  J 184 

Introduces  Steam-Point...   215 

Bidarka    86 

Bidarra    87 

Big  Hurrah  Mine 368 

Blake,  Harry  L 328,  330 

Blue  Goose  Dredge 372 

Boat  Building,  Cost  of 162 

Bodega   Bay,    Russian    Settle- 
ment at   110 

Boerner,  Captain  C.  A 253 

Bonanza  Creek,   Discovery   of 

Gold  on 189 

Boyd,  A.  E 363 

Brackett,  George  A 137 

Bradley,  F.  W 28 

Bristol,  the  Original  of  the  Si- 
lent City 66 

Brooks,  A.  H 312 

Bruce,  Minor  W 64,  70 

Bruce,  Thomas  264 

Bryant,  J.  W 169 

Brynteson,  John    330 

Bucyrus  Dredge 3G4 

'Cache',  a 178 

California  and  Alaska,  Relation 

between    105 

Russian   Settlements   in..   108 

Canyon  City   171 

Capital  of  Alaska,  The 22,  100 

Carmack,  George 189 

Trading  Post  of 178 

Carter  Code,  The 22 


388 


INDEX. 


Page. 

Charles   II's  Charter  to   Hud- 
son's Bay  Co 164 

Chatanika    269 

'Cheechaco',  Meaning  of 121 

Hill    228,  232 

Chilkoot  Pass 144 

'China  Joe'    22 

Chinook   120 

Chirikoff,     Alexis,      Discovers 

Alaska    89 

Circle  City 234,  249,  264 

City  of  Seattle,  The 78 

Cleary  Creek  269,  271 

Club  House  at  Treadwell,  The  38 

Coffey,  George  T 228 

Coghlan,  Captain  J.  B.,  U.S.N.  7 

Cook,  Captain,  at  Sitka 12 

Cooper,  Lon  296 

Copeland,  W.  F 239 

Copper  Mines  near  White 

Horse    169 

Council   City 332,  372 

Council  City  &  Solomon  River 

Railroad  Co 368 

Cummins,  William   337 

Davis,  General  Jefferson  C...    103 

Dawson,  Automobiles  at   228 

Capital    of    Yukon    Terri- 
tory  183,  199,  227 

Gold  Production  from ....   209 
Local    Administration   at.    234 

Regina  Hotel  at 184 

The  Stampede  to 137 

Dawson,  George  M 182 

Daylight,  Length  of  Arctic...   227 
de   Arguello,    Concepcion,    Ro- 
mance of    106 

Don   Jose    106 

de  Arrillago,  Don  Luis 106 

Debauchery    150,  187,  232 

dc  Groff.  Edward   20 

de   Stoeckl.   Edward 103 

Dexter,  John  A 327 

De  Windt,  Harry 144 


Page. 
Dietering,  William;  or  'Caribou 

Bill'    194 

Diggings,  The    199 

Discovery  Claim,  Meaning  of.   206 

Ditch,  The  Yukon 239 

Dixon,  Colonel  Richard 76 

Dog  Race  at  Nome 321 

Dredging  for  Gold..202,  220,  224,  364 

Dress,  Native  315 

Drift  Mining  at  Cleary  Creek.   271 

Eagle,  on  the  Yukon  River.. .249,  250 
Erussard,  Pierre,  Discoverer 

of  the  Treadwell  Lode.  ...     23 

Etolin,  Governor  78 

Expenses  in  the  Interior 276 

Fairbanks    260,  263 

Founding  of 263 

Gold  Production  from 209 

Fee,  Wm.,  or  'Missouri  Bill'.  . .  337 
"Fifty-Four  Forty  or  Fight"..  4 
Fink,  Albert,  Winner  of  the 

Dog  Race   324 

Five  Finger  Rapids,  The 180 

Flygar,  John    146 

Fort  Derabin  293 

Gibbon 254 

Ross,  Russian   Settlement 

in  California..  .110,  112,  113 
Forty-Mile.. 180,  190,  195,  234,  250 

Freeborn,  James   24 

French,  Col.  George  A 165 

'French    Pete',    Cognomen    of 

Erussard 23,  24 

Frost,  as  an  Aid  to  the  Miner.    218 

Frost-bite,  The  Danger  of 322 

Fruit    and    Flowers 230 

Fry,  John  D..  Sends  Treadwell 

to  Juneau    24 

Fulda,   L.   R 288 

Fuller,  N.  A 18,  20 

Fur  Trade 89,  105,  164 

First  Association 90 

Gambling    100,  140 

Game,   Abundance  of 124,  267 


INDEX. 


389 


Page. 

Gastineau  Channel  15 

Gates,  Bill,  or  'Swiftwater  Bill'  192 
Geological  Survey,  Tribute  to.  312 
Geology  of  the  Treadwell  Lode  28 

Georgeson,  C.  C 281 

Gibson,  T.  M 363 

Glacier,  Description  of  a 51 

Glaciers  of  Alaska,  The 47 

Augpadlartok   56 

Brady 57 

Eagle  River 55 

Malaspina 57 

Muir 56,  58 

Taku 48,  60 

Windom   62 

'Glory  Hole'  at  Treadwell 28 

Gold  Commissioner  of  the 

Yukon 237 

Nuggets 184 

Of  the  Klondike,  The 189 

Royalty  Collected  on 206 

Russian  Discouragement  of 

Search  for 16 

Stream,  near  Fairbanks.  .   266 
Golden  Beaches  of  Nome,  The 

209,  310,  337 

Sands  Mining  Co 352 

Golikoff,  Ivan   90 

Golofnin  Bay   328,  332 

Gray,  Captain  J.  T...  251,  526,  260 
Greek  Church  at  Sitka.  .  .80,  83,  84 
Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  Treaty  of.  113 

Haggalin,  J.  L 330 

Hahn,  V.  1 156 

Haidas    80,  82,  120 

Hansen,  Joe    327 

Harding,  H.  T 328 

Harris,  Richard  T 18 

Harrisburg,  the  Original  Name 

of  Juneau    20 

Hawkins,  Clarence  130 

Healy,  J.  J 288 

Heilprin,  Angelo    148,  170 

Henderson,  Bob 189 


Page. 

Hepburn,  John   171 

Higginson,  Mrs.  Ella 300 

Hignes,  John    130 

Hoggatt,  Wilfred  B 22 

Holy  Cross 294,  296 

Hootalinqua  or  Teslin  River.  . 

170,  177 

Hoot-che-noo    96 

Hot    Springs,   near   Fort   Gib- 
bon    279,  287 

Near  Sitka  96 

Hudson's  Bay  Co 12,  90,  164 

Hultberg,  N.   0 328 

Humber,  Hart   130 

Hunker,    Andrew    190 

Hunker  Creek 189,  192 

Hurle,  J.  C 68 

Huskies 270,  290,  321 

Hutchinson,   H.   M 94 

Ice-Bergs,  The  Value  of 60 

Ice-Sheet,  The  Northern 54 

Igloos,  Eskimo  Houses 318 

Inland  Sea,  The 1 

International  Boundary. -4, 153,  249 

'Jack-Knifing'    258 

Jackson,   Dr.   Sheldon 332 

Jamestown,  U.  S.  Gunboat.  .  .20,  98 
Japanese,     Alaskan     Indian's 

Resemblance  to  the 128 

Jefferson,  The    5 

Johnson,  Bert   264 

Joslin,  Falcon  260,  267 

Juneau 15,  98 

Juneau,  Joseph    18 

Jurack,  Tom  264 

Kadiak 77,  90 

Kaht-le-ahn,  Chief  of  the  Kah- 

sat-tee  Clan    96 

Kaltag    295 

Karshner,  J.  F 279 

Kayak,  the  Eskimo  Canoe.  ...     86 

Kazaan,  The  Lady  of 84 

Kennan,  George 13 


390 


INDEX. 


Page. 

Kennicott,  Robert 13 

Ketchikan    6 

Kictatats    120 

Kimber,  Christopher   330 

Kinzie,  Robert  A 48 

Kittleson,  A.  N 336 

Klondike  Gold  Discoveries...   189 

Derivation  of  Name 199 

Kodiak  Livestock  Station 284 

Kostrometinoff,  Sergius...77,  78, 103 

Koyukuk  River,  The 251 

Koyukuk,  The 251,  259 

Kresge,   N 194 

Kuskoff,  Alexander    108 

'Ladies  of  Adventure'..  196, 198,  288 

Ladue,  Joseph    180,  189,  199 

Lake  Bennett   148,  154 

Laberge  ..  ., 174 

Lewis    158 

Lancaster  and  Stimson's 

Claims  on  Gold  Hill 192 

Land  Laws   102 

Lane,  Charles  D 305,  351,  368 

Lane,  Louis    130 

Lavelle  Young,  The... 249,  263,  289 

Lawson,  Thomas  W 202 

Lawyers,  Chicanery  of  Corrupt   360 

'Lay-men'    196 

Leland,  W.  L 363 

Lepine  Ridge,  Camp  on 246 

Libby,  Daniel  B 328 

Lindblom,  Erik  0 330 

Lindeberg,  Jafet.  .332,  351,  363,  374 

'Long-torn',  A 338 

Louis,  Henry   214 

Lowe,  Dick  196 

Lynch,  Jeremiah  299 

Lynn  Canal   8,  138 

McCarty,  Dan   264 

Macaulay,  Norman   171 

Macdonald,  Alec  195 

Macdonald,   Angus    124 

Macdonald,  Sir  John   165 

McGillivray,  Daniel    .  .   190 


Page. 

Mackay,  David 190 

McKenzie,  Alexander 350 

McQuesten,  Jack  249 

Maksutoff,  Prince  Demetrius..     94 

Malamutes 290,  296,  321 

Mammoth  Stories  232 

Teeth  of 230 

Manley,  Frank  G 279 

Marshall,  James  W 116 

Mastodon,  Tusks  of 230 

Measures,  Table  of  Alluvial..   208 

Mein,  Thomas    28 

Melsing,  Louis  S 328 

Men  in  the  Treadwell  Mines.     37 

Merriman,  Captain  E.  C 120 

Mills,  D.  0 26 

Mining  Methods,  Development  209 
Methods  at  Cleary  Creek..   272 

Operations 202 

Regulations    20,  98 

Mirage,   Explanation   of 72 

Of  the  Silent  City 66 

Moore,  Alfred  S 360 

Mordaunt,  A.  P 328 

Morgan,  J.  Pierpont 200 

Mosquitoes    172 

Mt.  Verstovia  77 

'Muck'  Discoveries 277 

Meaning  of 207,  222 

Munro,  C.  H 363 

Muir  Glacier 56,  58,  63 

Muir,  John 16,  56 

'Musher',  Meaning  of 120 

Navigation  on  the  Yukon.  .174,  250 
On  the  Tanana 254 

Niukluk    River,    Gold    Discov- 
ered on  the 328 

Valley  372 

Nome    302 

Anarchy  at  345 

First  Discoveries   of  Gold  327 
Golden  Beaches.  .  .209,  310,  337 

Indians  at  315 

The  Landing  at 302 


INDEX. 


391 


Page. 

Population  of 308 

Royal  Cafe  318 

North  American  Trading  & 

Transport  Co 287 

Northern  Commercial  Co..  249,  287 
Northwest  Mounted  Police.. .164, 166 

Novo  Arkhangelsk  92 

Noyes,  A.  H.,  Judge  at  Nome. .  350 

Fined  and  Dismissed 358 

Nulato,  Originally  Fort  Dera- 

bin     293 

Ogilvie,  William 204,  236 

Olds,  John   21 

Oomiak,  Eskimo  Canoe 87,  316 

Ophir,  The  Ride  to 363 

Organic  Act  of  May  17,  1884. .  98 
Pacific  Coast  Steamship  Co. .  . .  381 

Packing  Burdens  146,  149 

Paris    Claim,    Afterward    the 

Treadwell  'Glory  Hole'.  .24,  26 

Pedro,  Felix 264 

Perez,    Juan,    Spanish    Navi- 
gator           4 

Perkins,  H.  C 28 

Perry,  0.  B 202,  228,  239 

Pestchouroff,  Captain  Alexis.  .   103 

Petersen,  Nels   194 

Pilz,  George  E 16,  18 

Pioneer  Mining  Co.  of  Seattle.    334 
Power  of  Attorney,  Unscrupu- 
lous Use  of 349 

Price,  G.  W 334,  336 

Promishleniki,    Russian    Fur- 
Traders    89 

Railroad,  Need  for  a  Trunk.  . .  267 
Records  of  Persons  Entering 

Yukon  Territory   168 

Red  Snow   60 

Reid,     Frank    H.,    Killed     by 

Soapy  Smith 134 

Reid,  Harry  F 53,  56 

Reindeer  294,  332 

Rezanoff,  Nikolai 106,  108 

Ride  to  Ophir,  The 363 


Page. 

Riley,  J.  C 280 

Rink  Rapids,  The 180 

Rogers,  Robert  C.,  U.  S.  Com- 
missioner         92 

Rousseau,  General  Lovell  N..   103 

Royalty  on  Gold  Mined 206,  236 

Ruby  Sand  at  Nome 343 

Russell,  G.  H 374 

Russian  American  Co 110,  293 

Settlements  in  California.   108 

St.  Michael   299,  378 

St.  Paul,  Early  Russian  Settle- 
ment   77,  90 

Samson,  Sam   210 

San  Francisco   383 

Saportas,  W.  F 134 

Sarah,  The 287,  293 

Sausalito,     Russian     Trading 

Post  at  112 

Schrader,  F.  C 312 

Schwatka,  Frederick 14,  289 

Seward  Peninsula 361,  366,  371 

Seward,  William,  Secretary  of 

State 103,  104 

Shilikoff,  Gregory 90 

Silent  City,  The 63 

Simel,  Max   296 

Sitka,  Derivation  of  Name....     77 

Greek  Church  at 80,  84 

Hotel  Baranoff  at 80 

Museum   86 

Totems 80,  82 

Sixty-Mile    180,  189 

Skagway  98,  131 

Skookum  Gulch  194 

Prehistoric  Bones  at 230 

Sluice-Box,  A 208,  305 

Smith,  Soapy   132 

Smith,  Sport 130 

Solomon  River,  Dredge  on  the.  364 

'Sour  Dough',  Meaning  of 121 

Spurr,  J.  E 148 

Stage  Service,  The  Dawson.  .  .   169 
Staking  Claims,  Method  of...    345 


392 


INDEX. 


Page. 

Stamp-Mills  at  Treadwell...28,  34,  36 
Stampede  to  Dawson,  The.  . .  .  137 
'Steam-Points'  for  Thawing 

Gravel 215,  223,  272 

Stewart,  Senator  \V.  M.,  of  Ne- 
vada       359 

Sumdum   18 

Supplies,  Cost  of 198,  280 

Transport  of 260 

Sutter,  Captain  John  A 113 

Discovery  of  Gold  by 114 

Swedish   Mission  on  Golofnin 

Bay   334 

Tagish  Charlie   190,  196 

Taku  Glacier 48,  60 

Tanana    252 

River   254 

Valley  Railroad  260,  269 

Tanana.  The 256 

Tantalus  Coal  Mine,  The.  .176,  177 

Tebenkoff,  Michael   300 

Terms,  Technical  Northern.  . .  207 
Teslin  or  Hootalinqua  River 

170,  177 

Thawing  Gravel  by  Fire 210 

By  Steam-Points 215,  223 

Thlingits   80,  82,  120 

Thomas,  Chester  A 202,  239 

Three  Friends  Mining  Co 363 

Swedes.  The 327,  345 

Tin  Cans,  General  Use  of.  .230,  260 

Tombstone   River    239 

Totem   Poles   SO,  S2 

Treadgokl,  A.  N.  C 200.  235,  239 

Treadwell.  John 24,  26 

Treadwell  Mines,  The   23 

Dwelling  Houses   42 

Men  at  the  Mines 37 

Miners'  Club  House 38 

Nationality  of  Workers.  .  .      43 
Sample  Hill  of  Fare  at.  .  .      45 

Stamp-Mills L'S.  34,  36 

Underground    Workings..      :',<> 
Trees  and  Flowers   ....  2 


Page. 

'Tundra'    207 

Twelve-Mile  River 239,  242 

Unalaska,  Island  of 9 

Vestal,  Nate   328 

Victoria,  The   302 

Von  Wrangell,  Baron  F.  P 112 

Wadda,  Jurio   128,  266 

Walton  v.  Wild  Goose 375 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Conspiracy  352 

Waugh,.  Harry  190 

'Ways'  for  Steamboats 161 

Western  Union  Telegraph  Co. 

13,  296 

White  Channel,  The 195,  228 

White  Horse 161 

Copper  Mines  Near 169 

Rapids  170 

River  Steamer 173 

White  Pass  137,  1 40 

White    Pass    &    Yukon    River 

Railroad    138,  153 

Whitehead,  Cabel    306 

Wigan    160 

Wild  Goose  Mining  &  Trading 

Co 305,  351,  372 

Willoughby,    Richard    G.,    His 

Fake  Mirage 63 

Wilson,  J.  L 376 

Wireless  Telegraph  Station...  378 

'Wooding-up'    176,  250 

Wrangell  Narrows  7 

Wright,  G.  F 56 

Yakutat,  First  Russian  Penal 

Settlement    77 

Yerba  Buena    383 

Young,  S.  H 56 

Yukon  Ditch,  The 239 

Yukon  Gold  Co.  .  .162,  199,  223,  239 

Yukon  River,  The 294 

And  Its  Tributaries 170 

Navigation  on 174,  250 

Yukon  Territory,  Administra- 
tion of   234,  236 


o   = 


UC  SOUT 


A    001  308  745    7 


